Alumni need to play role in ensuring excellence

-- a letter from Alumni Association president Joe Bress '66

As alumni, one thing we all share is the education we received at Binghamton University -- an education that has enriched our lives and enhanced our success. Just as our lives and careers continue to blossom and grow -- thanks to the strong roots nurtured and developed at Binghamton -- so does the University's stature as a center of higher learning continue to flourish. We can be proud that Binghamton University is recognized as one of the most selective, academically excellent and financially affordable public universities in the United States. Its reputation and high academic ranking have been documented in a number of publications over the past several years.

We share the benefits that a Binghamton education has afforded us. We share the pride of its reputation. Consequently, we also share responsibility for its future. As alumni, it is important for us to ensure Binghamton's continued success and support its financial needs.

Those needs are inherently at risk during times of financial difficulty for New York state. SUNY competes with all other public programs -- including health, welfare, transportation, tax reduction, primary and secondary education, revenue sharing and police protection -- in the allocation of state funding during budget debates. To avoid direct tax increases, government looks to funding increases and maintenance of present taxes through the raising of revenues on those who use the services. So comes the call for a tuition increase to the University.

The New York state executive budget proposes a 15 percent cut in state funding (or $184 million) for SUNY in 2003-04, along with a corresponding $1,200 tuition increase to offset this loss. Prior to this, the SUNY Board of Trustees had proposed a $1,400 increase. To place this in context, the last University tuition increase was in 1995, when the tuition was raised by $750, to $3,400 per year.

At private, selective higher education institutions, tuition increases have been rising faster than the cost of living each year, as Ronald G. Ehrenberg '66 pointed out in his recent book, Tuition Rising. SUNY, by contrast, has avoided regular increments in tuition.

Following are a few facts to consider during this debate over a SUNY tuition increase:

• While private universities use some of their annual tuition increases to provide financial aid to students in need (as Ehrenberg noted), the State of New York provides similar funding for SUNY students through its Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). A tuition increase with a corollary drop in TAP funding would inevitably lead to increased financial burdens on students. The TAP budget proposal this year would withhold a third of the annual award until after a student graduates, to provide an incentive to graduate in four years. Although Binghamton's TAP students' graduation rates are among the highest in the country -- 70 percent of TAP students graduate in four years and 80 percent in five -- this would create a problem for them.
  
  
• Binghamton University will lose $1.3 million for every $100 cut from the proposed increase. This would be on top of the 10 percent cut in operating funds that Binghamton already absorbed this fiscal year. If there is no tuition increase, or if the increase is reduced, and no corresponding increase in proposed state funding is forthcoming, the University will face financial difficulty in maintaining its academic excellence. As degree holders and beneficiaries of that excellence, we share an implicit bond with the University to do all that we can to uphold it.
  
  
• SUNY tuition and fees -- at $4,269 for 2002-03 -- are the lowest among public colleges and universities in the Northeast. To compare, tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in Pennsylvania were $6,766; in New Jersey, $6,610; in New Hampshire, $6,418; in Vermont, $6,396; in Maryland, $5,260; in Connecticut, $4,909; in Delaware, $4,818; in Rhode Island, $4,808; in Maine, $4,509; and in Massachusetts, $4,391. The proposed tuition increase would place SUNY in the middle of this list.

As alumni, we all need to consider the future of the University, its public support and its continued academic excellence within the context of affordable higher education. Our government officials also have to factor into a decision the considerable economic value contributed to the state through its public higher education.

Whatever position we take on a tuition increase and TAP funding, alumni must ensure that future generations at Binghamton will have access to the education we have valued and that has served us well, at a cost that is reasonable both to the students and to the public. One way we can keep the high quality of education that we received accessible to students, regardless of income, is through the support of scholarships.

- Joe Bress '66

You may reach Joe by mail at Binghamton University, PO Box 6004, Binghamton, New York 13902-6004; by fax: 607-777-2654; by phone: 607-777-2431; or by e-mail: alumni@binghamton.edu.