In addition, the university faces a $3 million cut to its Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) funding and a $3 million reduction in the SUNY Capital Equipment Budget.

In all, the Executive Budget proposes cuts of $92 million to the SUNY system, $45 million to SUNY's TAP funding and $16 million to the SUNY Capital Equipment Budget.

"The combination of these changes will have a significant long-term impact on the overall budget operation of SUNY and on our advocacy efforts this spring for the 1996-97 budget," said Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner. "We're still sorting out the campus implications."

UB could feel some relief if plans proposed by the SUNY Board of Trustees' report, Rethinking SUNY, are implemented. Those proposals would help offset the cuts by raising tuition and enhancing non-tuition revenue; reducing state support to the statutory colleges; reducing System Administration; and providing additional flexibility to SUNY's hospitals. The proposal also recommends that any remaining budget reduction be assigned to campuses with no enrollment reduction.

"The result of the trustees' proposed plan, if fully implemented, would be to reduce the University at Buffalo's share of the $92 million total from $14 million to approximately a $4 million lump sum reduction," Wagner said. How many of the proposals are adopted as suggested by Rethinking SUNY will affect UB's total budget reduction.

According to Wagner, "This year's budget activities are different from previous years" as a result of three factors: the impact of Rethinking SUNY on the overall budget process; proposed changes in the SUNY budget and earlier release of the Executive Budget.

Among the major recommendations contained in the proposed Executive Budget is one establishing a consolidated fund that would allow campuses to retain operating surpluses, do multi-year planning and expend fund balances in a later year. The Executive Budget also proposes legislation that would allow differential tuition, transfers $33 million in funding for Educational Opportunity Centers to the Department of Labor, caps general tuition increases at an average equivalent to $250 and changes the fiscal year to begin April 1, when the state budget year begins.

Students whose education relies on TAP funding could be hard hit by the proposed budget. In addition to the proposed overall reduction in TAP funding, students eligible for TAP will pay a larger amount of the total cost of attendance because of changes in the TAP award calculation and shift in eligibility criteria.

The proposed reduction in the SUNY Capital Equipment Budget also will directly affect students. According to Wagner, that cut "will disproportionately impact this campus and other graduate centers in SUNY since the allocation of those funds in the past has provided on-going capital support for the Graduate Research Initiative."

Campus advocacy over the next several months, said Wagner, will focus on TAP restoration; restoring capital equipment funding; hospital flexibility; modifying statutory college state support; further decentralization and targeted reduction in System Administration; tuition increase to maintain program quality, including campus-specific tuition; lobbying to keep Educational Opportunity Centers in SUNY; and increased campus flexibility.