New York State Budget Hits College Students Hard

Politicians are always saying that they want to make things better for future generations...apparently New York State Gov. David Patterson missed that memo.

In fact, rather than letting my generation pay for current mistakes when we are older, he's making sure we start emptying our pockets now. And he's hitting us where it really hurts: tuition and beer.

This spring semester, students saw a $310 increase in tuition costs, and it will climb by that amount again in the fall. Where is all of this money going you ask? Well, 90 percent of it is going toward. the general revenue of New York State. The SUNY (State University of New York) system gets to keep that other 10 percent. So, for every extra $310 in tuition the schools bring in, $279 goes toward paying off the state deficit of $13 billion.

To make matters worse, the tuition for SUNY schools went up (and budgets were severely cut) while the schools downstate in the CUNY system have yet to see any rise in tuition. They are, however, seeing a budget cut of $348 million.

"SUNY seems to be bearing the majority of these cuts and ... our students therefore are being hugely disadvantaged in the way they're being treated in comparison to students going to community colleges and CUNY," said Kenneth Levison, vice president of administration and finance at SUNY Geneseo.

Overall, it is a bad thing for students according to Fran Clark, program coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"They're asking students to pay more for less," Clark said. "It's a bad idea to increase tuition, but if you're going to do it, at least spend it on SUNY."








But it's not only tuition where students are getting hit. The 'bigger, better bottle bill' will be making bottled water and beer more expensive too.

Bottled water will now have a five cent deposit charge, and distributors will have to have a special UPC code for bottled water sold in New York. The handling fee to businesses where the containers are returned also increased from 2 cents to 3.5 cents. Grocery stores will have to install recycling receptacles so consumers can return the bottles. And all of this is supposed to be done by June 1. Naturally, things are getting pushed back.

Eighty percent of the unclaimed deposits will go back to the state, rather than going back to the beverage industry as before.

T. Daniel Tearno, senior vice president for Heineken USA Inc. of White Plains, said that the new laws could raise the price of a case of beer by $1.35 to $2 or more.

New Yorkers can expect to see beer distributors and breweries leaving the state and going to places where these taxes and fees don't exist. But at least more people will be recycling, right?

So all you (of age) college kids in New York, kick back and enjoy a beer while you still can, because come next semester, you won't be able to afford it. Assuming you can afford to go to school next semester.