City Hall, NY – Ahead of the City Council’s Executive Budget hearing by its Committee on Higher Education and the Committee on Finance on Monday at 10 AM, the Council identified remaining gaps in funding for the City University of New York (CUNY) within the Mayor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Executive Budget. There was $1.48 billion included for CUNY’s operating budget in the Mayor’s FY 2026 Executive Budget, an addition of $199.5 million from the Preliminary Budget and $114.3 million greater than the adopted FY 2025 budget last June. The budget cuts from the mayor’s FY 2025 Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) were restored and baselined with $95.5 million, which was  advocated for in the Council’s Preliminary Budget Response. However, funding for several key programs were underfunded or omitted from the Executive Budget, including CUNY Reconnect, CUNY ACE, and capital funding to bring community colleges into a state of good repair and address the deferred maintenance backlog. The Mayor’s Executive Budget also left a significant gap in the City’s 5-Year Capital Plan for CUNY, despite adding approximately $45 million across the plan’s years.

CUNY serves as a vital catalyst for socioeconomic mobility, opening doors for countless individuals seeking a brighter future. According to CUNY, each year, over 80 percent of its graduates choose to stay in the City, and CUNY alumni generate approximately $70 billion in annual earnings and contribute nearly five percent to the New York State’s Gross Domestic Product. However, the university system continues to grapple with a structural deficit. CUNY faces ongoing disinvestment and significant financial challenges due to inconsistent funding from unstable tuition revenues and support from the state, which have been further exacerbated by budget cuts from the City.

The following programs were outlined in the Council’s Preliminary Budget Response, but were left out of the Mayor’s FY 2026 Executive Budget:

CUNY Capital Support

The CUNY system includes approximately 300 buildings across New York City, encompassing 29 million square feet of classrooms, labs, theaters, athletic facilities, and other educational facilities. Many of the facilities are decades old and in need of major renovation. For CUNY to maintain its status as a world-class institute of higher education, and to be able to recruit and retain students and a high-quality faculty, it is critical that appropriate capital investments are made to upgrade its facilities. The Council has proposed that the Administration provide an additional $200 million annually between Fiscal Years 2026-2029 to bring community colleges to a state of good repair and address the deferred maintenance backlog. The Administration should also grant CUNY $11 million annually to correct any code violations and upgrade accessibility in buildings to ensure that the system is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and to ensure spaces are conducive for learning.

CUNY Reconnect

CUNY Reconnect, established by Speaker Adrienne Adams in partnership with CUNY, assists working-age New Yorkers who have previously attended but exited the university system in returning to school to complete their degrees. The program aims to remove barriers to higher education by guiding potential students through the application process, providing financial aid, tuition forgiveness, scholarships, and application fee waivers, as well as ensuring there is a streamlined childcare application process. CUNY Reconnect was rolled out for the first time as a pilot in Fiscal 2023, providing 10,000 former CUNY students with assistance in resuming their higher education studies. To date, the program has served over 47,000 CUNY students, with more than 8,500 graduates. CUNY Reconnect is funded in the current fiscal year (FY 2025) with City funds at $5.9 million, but funding has not been baselined and was not included in the Mayor’s FY 2026 Executive Budget for its continued operation.

To allow CUNY to properly manage this successful program in future years, the Council has urged the Administration to restore the current funding of $5.9 million and enhance it by an additional $5.9 million, baselining the total amount of $11.8 million starting in Fiscal 2026. This additional funding will expand services and the age eligibility to students under 25 by incorporating CUNY Fresh Start into CUNY Reconnect. CUNY Fresh Start, first proposed in Speaker Adrienne Adams’ 2025 State of the City, would create a structure to forgive student debt to help those under the age of 25 re-enroll and complete their education.

CUNY Flex – Expand Support for Part-Time Adult Learners

Nearly one-quarter of all degree-seeking undergraduate students at CUNY are over 25 years old, but too many never finish college. The Council is proposing CUNY Flex, a new initiative that would extend the benefits of the successful CUNY ASAP program to part-time, working adult students. Currently, CUNY ASAP provides participating students earning their associate’s degree with comprehensive and personalized advisement, academic support services, professional development opportunities, tuition assistance, transportation, and textbooks to support student success. The Council has called on the Administration to fund CUNY Flex at $48.4 million in Fiscal 2026 to allow over 24,500 CUNY part-time adult learners to stay on track to complete their degrees.

CUNY Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE)

CUNY’s Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE) program is based on CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Program (ASAP), designed to help students complete their bachelor’s degree programs within four years. The ACE program is currently funded at $10.1 million and serves 2,646 students across the seven CUNY senior colleges. Students participating in CUNY ACE have a four-year graduation rate that is 12.4% higher than qualifying students who did not participate. The program provides intensive academic advisement, career development, tuition scholarships, textbooks, and transportation assistance. However, since the program is not yet baselined and much of the funding is provided by the City, CUNY is unable to anticipate the number of ACE slots they can offer from year to year. At the same time, the program currently only serves a fraction of eligible students. The Council has proposed that the City increase funding to serve a greater proportion of eligible students. The Council’s Preliminary Budget Response urged the Administration to provide $15 million in baselined funding for the program, but the Executive Budget only included $9.1 million, leaving a gap of roughly $6 million.

CUNY Access and Inclusion

There are currently nearly 11,000 CUNY students registered with the Disability Services Offices. It is estimated that an additional 5,500 students could qualify but have not registered. Most Disability Servies Offices are understaffed and overwhelmed with their current caseloads, and some of the smaller CUNY schools do not have dedicated staff. CUNY’s Disability Services Offices need additional staffing to manage the growing number of students who require accommodation, including skilled assistive technology specialists, campus coordinators to administer special programs for students with autism or intellectual disabilities, and professional and clinical staff to support the adaptive sports program. In addition, Disability Service Offices needs staff to evaluate accessibility and remediate University webpages, process reimbursement claims from the State for services provided. CUNY also requires funding to support the licensure for CUNY Accommodate, the new Disability Services portal that was launched this spring. The Council has proposed that the Administration allocate and baseline $2.1 million in the FY 2026 budget to fully fund CUNY’s Disability Services Offices staffing needs. CUNY anticipates that it will eventually need at least 50 additional staff members to appropriately account for the increase in registered students. These funds will allow CUNY to increase its headcount by 21 positions within the Disability Services Offices at the Community Colleges citywide.

CUNY Application Fee Waiver

Over 55 percent of CUNY enrollees report household incomes below the New York City poverty line. For many low-income students, a $65 fee can be unaffordable and a significant barrier to entry. CUNY’s need-based application fee waiver system provides some financial relief to applicants. CUNY is currently granted a baseline funding of $2.1 million for this program, which allows 33,085 students to apply to CUNY at no cost each year. Enhancing the funding with an additional $1.4 million would allow nearly 22,000 additional prospective students to apply using a fee waiver, increasing the total annually to 55,000 students. The Council has urged the Administration to add $1.4 million in Fiscal 2026 for CUNY Application Fee Waivers to continue to help eliminate barriers for eligible high school students pursuing higher education.

CUNY Free Commuting Pilot Program

One of the financial barriers prohibiting many students from achieving their higher education goals is the cost of transportation. The current fare on the City’s subway is $2.90 per ride or $132 for a monthly unlimited MetroCard. Many CUNY students have reported missing classes, limiting extracurricular activities, and missing out on internship opportunities as a result of the cost of transportation. The free commuting pilot program would provide low-income CUNY students with a free transit benefit card, offering four months of unlimited usage each semester to ensure they can take advantage of all the learning opportunities CUNY offers. The Council urges the Administration to fund this pilot program with $500,000 in Fiscal Year 2026 to provide transportation benefits for 473 students in need.

Council initiatives for CUNY

The Council’s funding initiatives address gaps across the CUNY network that help support students, faculty, and staff in their work and studies. The $25 million for these various initiatives support programs like the CUNY Social Work Fellows program, which offers scholarship opportunities for students seeking their master’s degree and licensure in social work, and CUNY Childcare Expansion, which provides childcare for children of CUNY students and faculty at childcare centers at CUNY colleges. It is critical that this funding, left out of the Mayor’s Executive Budget, is included in the final budget through a continued full commitment towards Council discretionary funding. 

“Programs like CUNY Reconnect, MetroCards, and fee waivers are vital to ensuring that students have the access and support they need to succeed,” said Council Member Eric Dinowitz, Chair of the Committee on Higher Education. “These initiatives, which help make education more attainable, are the foundation of a thriving, equitable system. The success of our CUNY students has a direct impact on everything from the city’s economy to the future of innovation. Yet, these critical programs continue to be left out of the budget. At the same time, essential operational support for CUNY is being reduced, creating even more barriers to the success of our students. While the increase in headcount is a step in the right direction, it’s far from enough to meet the growing demands of a system that serves the future of New York City. We need a budget that truly supports our students by investing in the programs and resources that have been proven to make a difference in their lives. Without this, we risk leaving future generations behind.”

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