SUNY Fredonia has a $17 million budget deficit, largely due to over a decade of underfunding by the state. To clear that deficit, SUNY Fredonia needs $17 million in state operating aid, directly allocated to the campus in the 2024-2025 budget.

Needless program cuts have already been announced at Fredonia, leading to fewer choices for students and faculty and staff losing their jobs. Last year, SUNY received a historic $163 million in operating aid, which could have been used to close the deficit at Fredonia and 18 other state-operated SUNY campuses.

Sadly, the SUNY chancellor and the SUNY Board of Trustees chose not to allocate this funding based on need. Instead, they directed a disproportionate amount to the well-off university centers and left the smaller campuses to suffer – exacerbating the pain inflicted by over a decade of Gov. Cuomo’s austerity budgets for SUNY.

This letter asks Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to ensure that in the 2024-2025 budget, additional operating aid is directly allocated to struggling SUNY campuses based on need. The deficits at the 18 distressed campuses total $139 million.

Without this funding, there will certainly be more unnecessary cuts to academic programs, student services, faculty and staff, which will hurt enrollment.