State University of New York students may soon find themselves looking for a part-time job if Gov. George Pataki’s proposed state budget is passed.

Pataki’s budget for 2005-2006 calls for a $500 increase in SUNY schools’ tuition, with an increase of approximately 4.5 percent to be added each following year to match inflation.

The proposed spike comes two years after Pataki’s budget called for an increase of $950 in SUNY tuition.

‘I’m really worried about the new budget,’ said Ana Piatkowska, a sophomore at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. ‘I’m afraid I’m going to have to get an extra job. My parents already don’t have a lot of income.’

Piatkowska said she relies on the benefits of New York State’s Tuition Assistance Program, which provides financial aid to in-state students. Under Pataki’s budget proposal, students who start school at a SUNY campus in the fall of 2005 will only receive half of their TAP money, and the rest when they graduate.

Pataki said the policy would motivate students to perform better in school.

‘Any time there is a tuition increase people upset,’ said Patrick Tomeny, environmental project leader for the New York Public Interest Group and a junior environmental studies major at ESF. ‘People are already struggling to make ends meet.’

In addition to the TAP decrease The Higher Education Opportunity Program, which provides funds for special testing, counseling and tutoring, had it’s funding cut 50 percent.

‘I think this shows people that education is not a priority for (the government),’ said senior ESF conservation biology major Kelly Lash.

Members of NYPIRG sponsored a candlelight vigil on the ESF quad last Thursday to protest Pataki’s increase in SUNY tuition. About twenty students from ESF and Syracuse University came to the event to show their disapproval with the governor’s decision.

‘The government snuck in over (winter) break and did this. There was no way to prepare,’ said Jen Perrone, a sophomore geography and policy studies major who attended the vigil.

Tim Marvin, the NYPIRG project coordinator, said the vigil was a statewide action to draw attention to what Pataki and the New York government is doing.

‘(SUNY) students are sick of fighting for financial aid year after year when they should concentrate on studying,’ Marvin said.

Marvin said the budget would cause students to look for more sources for financial aid and take out more loans to cover tuition costs.

‘Pataki is leaving students out in the cold,’ Marvin said.

Representatives to the state assembly and state senate have been reviewing the budget since Pataki first announced it last week. Without the approval of the state representatives, the budget cannot be enacted.

State Assemblyman for the 120th district William Magnarelli said that because of a recent New York state court of appeals case, Pataki has much more power with the budget. Right now the only thing the state assembly can do now is either approve, negotiate changes or do nothing.

‘Students need to get in touch with the governor because nothing can be changed unless he agrees,’ Magnarelli said.

Magnarelli said he would like to sit down with Pataki and the other state assembly members to negotiate changes to his proposal. Until then, the budget cannot be passed.

‘The hike in tuition bothers me,’ Magnarelli said. ‘It was 10 years ago that the tuition was one-third or less than it is now. But it’s that (Pataki) decreased TAP, that is the real tragedy.’

Published on January 25, 2005 at 12:00 pm