Memorandums

Progress in a Difficult Time: Our Course for UB 2020December 16, 2008

Dear Colleagues:

Our state is in enormous financial difficulty, and with the 2009-2010 budget proposals released today, the Governor is desperately trying to fix this.

Yet the higher education proposals in his executive budget stop short of what I view as providing genuine solutions to our problems. What our leaders must realize is that higher education is the most promising way for New York to create a prosperous future for its people. It’s Western New York’s path. It’s the only path.

But for public higher education to succeed in New York, we need two things:

  1. Regulatory reforms that do away with a battery of outdated rules and regulations;
  2. A rational funding model that provides universities with a stable funding base, and students and parents with confidence about their education costs.

The governor’s budget proposal does include some regulatory reforms, and that’s a good first step. But there’s a lot more work to be done on the funding model. What’s missing – and is most needed – is a clearly articulated tuition policy. Rather than the “tuition roulette” that continues today, we need a tuition policy that ensures that our students can predict their costs, and that the universities themselves have the resources to ensure the quality of the education our students receive.

We need these tools to fully implement UB 2020. By catalyzing the transformation of the region’s economy, UB 2020 remains the best hope for our region’s economic recovery. Our plan has now become the community’s big idea. And together – as a community – we will continue to push Albany to make the reforms that will allow our hometown university and our region to flourish.

Sincerely, signature
John B. Simpson
President