Op-ed
Rising College Costs Create A Crisis For 9-To-5 Families
BY STATE SENATOR TOBY ANN STAVISKY

From high school seniors receiving their diplomas to undergraduates beginning summer classes to bring themselves closer to their own graduation day, college is on the minds of many students this time of year.

Most will continue their education right here in New York, home to some of the best institutions of higher learning. With more than 300 State University of New York (SUNY), City University of New York (CUNY) and private colleges and universities (second behind only California) educating more than one and a quarter-million students, our state can be justifiably proud of its status as a world leader in post-secondary education.

That status, however, is being jeopardized by the skyrocketing cost of higher education, which threatens to keep more and more students from ever setting foot on a college campus at a time when wages for middle-class workers have stalled. This has us deeply concerned.

The average annual cost of a private college education, including tuition, room, board and books, is $30,000. At a public institution, it is $13,000. Either way, many parents are struggling to send their children to college. Even after graduation, the price tag grows: The Department of Education says today's college graduates have twice as much debt as their predecessors in the mid- 1990s.

The future of our state depends on the ability of middle-class families to afford- and children to receive- a quality college education. SUNY and CUNY were built on the idea of making sure all students have access to higher education. We believe it is critically important to ensure that those New Yorkers who want to go to college can afford it.

Governor Eliot Spitzer should be applauded for creating a commission to look into ways to improve New York's higher education system. The governor wants to turn SUNY into an economic engine to create jobs for what he calls an innovative economy. That's a laudable goal, but we will never get there unless we can keep college affordable for all New Yorkers.

Senate Democrats supported increases in funding for SUNY and CUNY, and state aid programs such as HEOP and TAP. We have since proposed a $180 million expansion of TAP for all college students.

We also believe that there are other ways to help 9-to-5 families with collegebound children, such as offering a $10,000-a-year tax deduction for tuition expenses, scholarships for low-income students who choose to pursue careers in math, science, technology and engineering and tuition price controls to slow down spiraling costs.

Community colleges are another attractive option that should be heavily emphasized to college-bound students. Such institutions provide a chance to take the bulk of college curriculum classes closer to home while saving money in the process.

Regardless of the ideas and solutions offered, we must work together with a sense of urgency to solve this crisis. The longer we wait, the greater the likelihood that the next generation of young men and women in our state will have less opportunity to succeed than their parents. The cost of that public policy failure cannot be measured.

State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky (DFlushing) is the ranking member on the state senate Committee on Higher Education.