Cuomo Backs Higher Tuition at Top SUNY Campuses

The governor said he would support a State University proposal to set a five-year schedule of tuition increases at all SUNY undergraduate campuses, and would allow the four research campuses — at Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook — to propose their own, higher undergraduate tuition increases, subject to legislative approval.

“There is no cookie cutter,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference. “Some may decide that they need to increase tuition; some may decide they don’t. We’re trying to flip the model.” Under the new model, he said, “we’re not going to tell you what to do.”

Currently, all of SUNY’s undergraduate campuses charge the same tuition for state residents, $4,970, which is significantly lower than that charged by many other state universities.

The governor’s announcement came as he unveiled one of his administration’s first major economic development programs, $140 million in grants for the SUNY research campuses for expansion, part of which, he said, would probably be paid for by the higher tuitions.

By throwing his weight behind the tuition proposals, Mr. Cuomo is thrusting himself into one of Albany’s longest-running and most contentious policy disputes. For years, SUNY’s research universities have sought to set their own tuitions and to vary tuition by campus. Currently, the systemwide tuition rate is set by the Legislature. Mr. Cuomo’s predecessor, Gov. David A. Paterson, supported a “differential tuition” plan last year, but it failed to win legislative approval.

The announcement by Mr. Cuomo drew skepticism from Democrats in the State Assembly, where lawmakers have suggested that allowing State University campuses to set their own, different tuition rates would make the system less accessible to low-income New Yorkers.

“Differential tuition is a concern in our conference,” said the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat. However, noting that Mr. Cuomo’s proposal would still require legislative approval of tuition rates, Mr. Silver said, “this clearly recognizes the oversight role of the Legislature, and the authority of the Legislature in matters of tuition.”

SUNY’s last tuition increase came in 2009, when the Legislature approved a $620 increase.

Nancy L. Zimpher, the chancellor of the 64-campus SUNY system, has argued that periods of flat tuition, followed by sharp increases, are unfair to students, who have no way to predict the cost of their educations. Instead, Dr. Zimpher has advocated for “modest annual increases” to tuition rates.