Budget and Legislative Updates

The 2007-2008 New York State budget
The state legislature on April 1 completed most of its work on the new budget, adding $40 million to total state spending for the new year.  Both the governor and legislators claimed success in achieving their budget goals.

Except for increases in State and City University appropriations, most budget items relating to higher education were only adjusted by the legislature in small ways.  The legislature:

• Restored the governor’s proposed Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) cuts concerning what is known as the “ability to benefit” option that provides TAP funds to some college students who have not graduated from high school.  No increase in the overall TAP grant was approved.
• Restored the governor’s proposed cuts in Direct Institutional (“Bundy”) aid, which benefits private colleges and universities in the state.  The action simply restored funding to the level approved for 2006-2007.
• Increased funding for the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) by five percent over the previous level.
• Re-appropriated (carried forward from a previous fiscal year) funding for the Higher Education Capital (HE-Cap) Matching Grant Program approved in 2005.  Canisius College is eligible for a $1.949 million grant under the program.  Implementation of grant awards, however, has been delayed awaiting the appointment of a board to administer the grants, consisting of members appointed by the governor, the majority leader of the state senate and the speaker of the assembly.  The speaker of the assembly has not appointed his representative.
• Provided three appropriations for Canisius College:  (1) $50,000 for the Women’s Business Center; (2) $30,000 for the Center for Professional Development; and (3) $10,000 for the National Youth Sports Program.  Funding was secured by Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (’69), Senator Dale Volker (’64) and Democratic members of the Assembly from Erie and Niagara counties.

Federal action

The 2008 Budget
President Bush’s proposed 2008 budget is under consideration by committees in Congress.  The President has proposed that the maximum Pell grant for students be increased from the current level of $4,310 (just increased by $260 earlier this year) to $4,600 beginning in 2008.  The President has proposed eliminating Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), which provide up to $4,000 in additional aid for low income students.  While an increase in Pell funding is possible, cuts in SEOG are not likely.

Accreditation
Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling has recently convened meetings to review recommendations of her Commission on Higher Education which issued a report last November.  One of the major issues at the meetings concerned proposed changes in the accreditation process for colleges and universities.  The administration believes that the accreditation process should be more rigorous when it comes to measuring student outcomes.  This is an issue that most colleges and universities, including Canisius, are grappling with.  It involves identifying desired outcomes from courses, programs and majors and then developing tools to measure whether those outcomes have been achieved; in other words, have our students learned what we hoped they would learn?  While the administration has said that they may be able to impose some such changes by their own actions, Congress would be likely to take the position that such changes can only occur through legislation.

Earmarks
Having eliminated most 2007 earmark appropriations, funding directed to organizations including colleges and universities for particular projects, congress continues to review rules governing future earmarks.  President Bush is pushing to cut the amount and cost of earmarks in half, compared to appropriations in 2005.  In that year the Office and Management and Budget calculates that there were 13,496 earmarks costing more than $19 billion.  The college continues its efforts to seek federal funding for the proposed interdisciplinary science center at the site of the BlueCross BlueShield building and for assistance with the construction of a median on Main Street in front of the campus.  Fr. Cooke, John Hurley and Ken Kruly met with members of the local Congressional delegation in Washington in late March.

Student Loan Issues – State and Federal Activity
Over the past several weeks New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and others have highlighted in very significant ways problems throughout the country concerning student financial aid.  Approximately one hundred colleges and universities plus several student loan organizations have been cited for possible illegal or otherwise inappropriate actions.  Canisius College is not among the schools where such issues have been raised.

The investigation by the Attorney General’s office began last November during the final weeks of then Attorney General Spitzer’s term.  Inquiries were made to schools and lenders about whether considerations were provided to schools by lenders in exchange for selection as “preferred lenders” for student loans.  The investigations determined that at some schools administrators were provided with company stock at low or no price and were invited to meetings at resorts.  Other schools have received rebates for loans, funds for special loans programs and assistance with responding to student inquiries about loans without identifying to callers that the assistance was actually from the lender and not the school.

Senator Kennedy is chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, Pensions Committee which is preparing for revisions to the Higher Education Act.  He and others in congress have raised similar issues about lender-school practices.