How Long Island SUNY campuses will spend $37 million in funding boost from state budget
The budgets of Stony Brook, Old Westbury, Farmingdale and SUNY schools statewide — are getting $114 million more in operating money in the coming year. Credit: Tom Lambui
The budgets of State University of New York campuses statewide — including Stony Brook, Old Westbury and Farmingdale — are getting $114 million more in operating money in the coming year, mostly to offset labor costs from what the faculty union has called "the richest agreement our unit has seen in nearly two decades."
On Long Island, the share of the new funding is $37 million, the SUNY system said Tuesday in a news release.
The money, separate from tuition and allocated in the recently passed state budget, is to be spent mostly on salary and benefits from 2023 through 2025 that were negotiated in 2023 with the union representing faculty and professional staff, according to SUNY spokeswoman Holly Liapis.
A 2023 bulletin from the union, University Union Professions, said that contract brought "well in excess of one billion dollars of new money into our unit" over three years. It was, the bulletin said, "the richest agreement our unit has seen in nearly two decades."
The $114 million — which SUNY highlighted Tuesday in a series of news releases — also includes funds for academic research; mental health counseling for students and related resources; and food for needy students, Liapis said. The specific ratios of how the money is to be spent at each campus weren’t disclosed, but overall, $100 million of the $114 million will go to paying the labor costs, according to a SUNY memo dated Monday.
Across the United States, instruction, which includes faculty salaries and benefits, was the single largest expense category at public postsecondary institutions that grant degrees: 34% of core expenses at four-year institutions and 38% at two-year institutions, according to statistics from the Institute of Education Sciences.
New York State's budget — due April 1 and over a month late when it passed last week — funds SUNY, covers tax rebate checks, a child tax credit expansion and significant funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Newsday has reported.
In one of the news releases about the SUNY money, Chancellor John King said: "These resources ensure SUNY’s continued affordability and invest in our academic and research excellence. There is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker, and this funding strengthens our ability to promote student success and advance upward mobility."
On Long Island, Stony Brook University will get an increase of $14.46 million, with an additional $9.28 million for the affiliated hospital ($175.88 million is the current operating budget for both); there will be $1.365 million more for SUNY Old Westbury ($13.61 million budget); and $2.816 million more for Farmingdale State College ($19.22 million budget), Liapis said.
Nikko Gambino, 19, of Bay Shore, a SUNY Purchase College freshman, called the systemwide increases "a good step."
"As far as food and mental health services go, resources on campus like the food pantry and our counseling center are increasing in need among students," Gambino, who is a volunteer for Purchase's New York Public Interest Research Group chapter, said by text.
Purchase is getting $1.6 million more (to its current $16.76 million budget), Liapis said.
SUNY has 64 campuses statewide, of which 29, including three, four-year institutions on Long Island, are state-operated and are covered by the $114 million. The rest of the SUNY campuses — community colleges — get state funding but are run by municipalities. Those campuses also got new funding, Liapis said.
Operating budgets pay for the day-to-day running of schools, colleges and universities, which also have separate capital budgets to build and maintain infrastructure. Separately, some universities, such as Stony Brook, maintain private foundations that raise money from donors and corporations.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
