CUNY raises tuition amid student protests
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Students held up signs to voice their displeasure with the tuition increase. Eagle photos by Victoria Merlino.
By Victoria Merlino
Undergraduate CUNY students will see their tuition increase by $320 next school year, following a heated university board of trustees meeting where student protesters yelled profanities at the board and were ejected en masse.
The tuition increase is broken into two parts: a new $120 fee that will pay for health and wellness services on CUNY campuses, and a $200 annual tuition increase at four-year and community colleges. The health and wellness fee is the first university-wide fee added since 2002, according to the New York Post.
The new fee will go toward boosting current health and wellness offerings at the university, such as expanded health center hours, the addition of more mental health counselors and extra support for LGBTQ students and those facing housing and food insecurity.
The tuition and fee hikes were packaged into a larger budget request that CUNY will ask of New York City and the state for the coming academic year. The contention around tuition increases centers around the fact that CUNY bills itself as a means of upward economic mobility for its system’s almost 275,000 students, many of whom live below the poverty line. CUNY features 25 campuses across New York City, including five in Queens.
“Don’t raise tuition and fees by $320,” the students chanted, holding up signs calling for “free CUNY.” “We have millionaires on this board — take a goddamn pay cut,” they said in unison.
The board consists of a mix of appointees named by the New York state governor and the New York City mayor, along with a student and faculty representative.
Students shook coins, held up signs and chanted during the meeting. Some were escorted out of the meeting by security officers.
All students were eventually asked to leave the room after a student fell to the ground while being escorted out of the room, and another student accused officers of pushing him. Students began to yell and curse at the trustees, and one student was held in a separate room by officers until she was eventually let go.
“I’ll study right here if I have to,” one student said to another during the protest. The meeting occurred during CUNY’s finals week.
Students carried a coffin reading “RIP CUNY” through the CUNY board of trustees meeting on Monday night.
CUNY asserts that only 17 percent of its full-time students pay full tuition, and that it remains a national leader in providing an affordable public education.
“Average tuition and fees at CUNY are among the lowest in the nation,” said CUNY spokesperson Frank Sobrino in a statement to the Eagle. “With state aid, including TAP, and federal aid, two in three full-time CUNY students attend tuition-free and three in four graduate debt-free. The quality and affordability of our institutions and the outcomes our graduates can expect are why CUNY is widely recognized as the nation’s best-value public university system. CUNY takes great pride in having helped generations of low-income, underserved and immigrant students realize the American Dream.”
