SUNY chancellor visits SUNY Fredonia after state budget passage

FREDONIA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Fresh off of the passage of the state budget -- SUNY's chancellor made a stop Monday in the Southern Tier.

Chancellor John King is talking about the impact the state budget will have on colleges and universities.

In the budget, higher education will get more than $7.5 billion. At SUNY Fredonia, the SUNY Chancellor John King talked about how SUNY colleges are right-sizing enrollment to the programs they offer.

King met with SUNY Fredonia's President Stephen Kolison, as well as, students, faculty, and staff.
This comes after a student protest last month to cuts to degrees with low enrollment and to close a $10 million budget gap.

Some of the programs that were cut include, French, Spanish, Photography and Philosophy. SUNY Fredonia saw a decrease of 10 percent in freshmen enrollments from this past fall compared to a year ago. King seemed to be supportive of the cuts.

"At SUNY, we are very committed to the future of SUNY Fredonia, we want SUNY Fredonia to be successful for the next 200 years and in order to make sure that happens the campus has to make smart financial decisions," King said.

Chancellor King says that Buffalo State is in the process of doing what SUNY Fredonia did of assessing programs with low enrollment. He did not talk about any cuts at Buffalo State.
The state budget also increases the minimum award of the tuition assistance program from $500 to $1,000. SUNY says 26,000 students will benefit from this.

Over the past decade, SUNY enrollment has dropped by 92,000 students, but there was a slight increase this school year. The hope is that the trend of increasing enrollment continues.

As for K-12 grade levels, the budget increases funding by over a billion dollars. Buffalo Schools say they won't see an increase in funding.

The budget will also require schools to make sure high school seniors complete a FAFSA form, in order to get financial aid.

The state teacher's union supports the budget.

Jeff Preval is an award-winning anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in December 2021. See more of his work here.