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SUNY budget aided by federal stimulus money

Joseph Abraham - Managing editor
Posted 6/1/21

LOCH SHELDRAKE -- The 2021-22 SUNY Sullivan Operating Budget (see graphic) totalling $19,425,875 was approved at the recent meeting of the college's board of trustees.

The main portion of the …

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SUNY budget aided by federal stimulus money

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LOCH SHELDRAKE -- The 2021-22 SUNY Sullivan Operating Budget (see graphic) totalling $19,425,875 was approved at the recent meeting of the college's board of trustees.

The main portion of the budget (unrestricted), derived from state aid, county monies, tuition, etc., is $15,425,875, which is a 0.7 percent ($106,544) increase from 2020-21.

The restricted portion of the budget typically serves as a placeholder in case the college receives other money during the year, such as a grant for a new program that must be spent in certain ways.

According to SUNY Sullivan President Jay Quaintance, they generally have a $2M restricted line. However, following the announcement earlier this spring that the college would be receiving $3.8M in federal stimulus money for institutional support, they increased that line to $4M in the 2021-22 budget.

Quaintance said if they had not received the federal monies, the college would have had a much leaner budget than they have now. The federal stimulus money will help cover items such as lost revenue, COVID response costs (PPE, building modifications, testing, etc.), tech investments and restoring lost positions.

“It's really important that we are made whole for those expenditures that obviously were unforeseen a year and a half ago,” said Quaintance. “The biggest thing is that it allows us to restore some of the old positions that we lost from layoffs and retrenchment, but it also allows us to fill faculty vacancies. We've had a good number of retirees in the last several years, and we really do need to rebuild our full-time faculty.”

Quaintance noted that there is no change in the college's tuition or fees from last year. There will also be more help for students as the state is expanding their Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). In fact, Quaintance said SUNY Sullivan will be able to start an EOP program on campus. EOPs provide both academic and financial support to students, in addition to the financial aid that they already receive.

The college also recently received some good news on the state funding front. They have been assured they will receive no less than 98 percent of their approved state aid from 2020-2021 in 2021-2022.

Last year, due to the pandemic, there was uncertainty from the state as to how much aid community colleges would receive. At one point the state was withholding 20 percent of it.

So the certainty provided in 2021-2022 is welcomed.

“It's huge,” said Quaintance. “Even if we don't hit our enrollment targets, we know what we're going to receive from the state and if we exceed or hit our enrollment targets, then we get the greater of 98 percent or the per FTE (Full Time Equivalent) funding. That in itself creates a great deal of stability for community colleges that we've just not seen in a very long time.”

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