By Phillip H. Smith
Updated: 05/16/08 6:28 AM

The State University of New York is facing the very real threat of being dismantled. This threat comes from the state Division of Budget and its order to all state agencies, including SUNY, to reduce spending by 3.35 percent. For SUNY, that translates into a freeze of $109.4 million the university system collects from tuition, dormitory fees, food services, bookstores and other payments. The freeze even applies to the revenue SUNY’s three public hospitals collect from patients and their private insurance.

This is money the State University relies on to run its operations. It is also money that students and their families are paying for higher education — not state tax dollars — and it is money that patients are paying for their health care. If this freeze is allowed to stand, students and patients won’t be getting what they paid for.

Beyond the question of fairness, the inability to spend the nearly $110 million would have a devastating effect on SUNY. Thousands of courses will be canceled, class sizes will balloon and the quality of both academic programs and patient care will erode.

Working families who send their children to a public university or college within SUNY face the very real prospect of having their sons and daughters take more than four years to graduate. Without the nearly $110 million in revenues, required courses will be offered less frequently and fewer faculty will be available to teach them. Families will be forced to pay thousands of dollars more for a degree that takes five or more years to complete, or they may end up being unable to pay the increased costs, and their children will not graduate.

As if this near $110 million freeze wasn’t bad enough, SUNY was already reeling from a $38 million cut in the new state budget.

Lest you think that if you don’t have a child attending SUNY this freeze doesn’t affect you, think again.

SUNY is a major engine that drives the state’s economy. It’s responsible for educating the next generation of New York’s work force with the type of skills needed to retain and attract employers. Eighty percent of the students who graduate from SUNY remain in New York to live and work. If those students are forced to study elsewhere, New York will suffer a brain drain that will hamper its efforts to bolster the economy.

In particular, Western New York will be particularly hard hit by this freeze, affecting Buffalo State, University at Buffalo and Fredonia State. How will this affect the UB 2020 plan to grow by 10,000 students and become a leading public research institute?

We all know the state is facing tough financial times. But freezing SUNY’s funds doesn’t save taxpayers a dime.

We ask Gov. David A. Paterson to release the nearly $110 million as a solid investment that will yield brighter days for the state and its beleaguered finances.

Phillip H. Smith is president of UnitedUniversity Professions, which represents34,000 academic and professional facultyat SUNY’s 29 state-operated campuses.

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