NYSUNY 2020

In 2011, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed the NYSUNY 2020 legislation, affording students and families the opportunity to properly plan for the cost of a college education in a predictable manner for the first time in the history of the State University of New York (SUNY). The NYSUNY 2020 plan allows each State University of New York and City University of New York (SUNY and CUNY) campus to raise tuition by $300 per year for five years.

This plan replaced an era of dramatic tuition increases with a system that is predictable and empowers students and parents to plan for college expenses. For the past 20 years, the average annual SUNY tuition increase has been 6.7 percent, well above the five-year, $300 increases included in this legislation. During that time, there were periods without tuition increases followed by sudden and dramatic tuition spikes of up to 40 percent.

Such spikes and uncertainty in tuition is detrimental to students, families, and the university system. The NYSUNY 2020 legislation prevents these types of dramatic and unpredictable tuition hikes from reoccurring. The modest increases have also helped solidify Stony Brook’s position as a regional economic development generator and world-class center of research and innovation. Additionally, it allows universities to add more faculty, educate additional students, increase class offerings and improve graduation rates. The program provides students and their parents with a better plan for college expenses, and places SUNY at the center of New York's economic revitalization.

For the first time, SUNY and CUNY is guaranteeing tuition credits or discounts to students least able to afford tuition payments. In order to maintain affordability and access to higher education, the legislation provides tuition credits to students who are eligible to receive a TAP award.

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s SUNY 2020 legislation is set to expire at the end of this academic year, and with it goes a built-in program for predictable tuition costs that so many students and their families depend on.