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State keeps SUNY tuition increases – axes Nursing program

Faced with a $6 million budget shortfall due to reduced funding from the state, SUNY New Paltz administrators have taken a number of measures to reduce their operating budget – including phasing out the institution’s more than quarter-century old Nursing Program, which currently enrolls 148 students. Once current students are finished, New Paltz will no longer offer the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and the Certificate of Advance Study (CAS) in Nursing.

Reaction from Nursing administrators, faculty and students was one of shock and dismay. Although currently matriculated students will be allowed to finish their degree programs over the course of the next few years, the nurses said the region will seriously miss the contribution made by New Paltz’s Nursing Program. The program’s chair Dr. Eleanor Richards said she was totally stunned by the decision, which she learned of three days prior to its public announcement.

"The program has increased enrollment in three out of the last five years. Department Chairs in three community college Nursing Programs in the region came out of our program. We provide staff at the community college level. They will be at a real disadvantage and we already have a faculty shortage," she said. When asked if the program was losing money, Richards replied "we’re self-sufficient."

Supporters of the program traveled with the New York State Nurses Association to Albany for Lobby Day. Student Nancy Lenhert, a Poughkeepsie resident and nurse at Kingston Hospital, attended the event.

"We spoke with Assemblyman Molinaro and Senator Steve Saland. They both said they only heard about it that day," she said. "This affects me. It’s really a blow. I can’t get my Master’s here. I have to go to Mount Saint Mary’s." A glance at the two institution’s websites showed that Mount Saint Mary’s tuition is over three times that of SUNY New Paltz.

"A Master’s degree opens doors," Lenhert said. "A lack of Master’s programs cuts off nursing faculty. It’s absolutely vital – it’s the lifeline of nursing faculty. Most nurses getting a Master’s intend to become teachers and this is only public program between Long Island and Binghamton." [editor’s note – SUNY Delhi is actually 30 miles closer to the Hudson Valley than Binghamton]

College spokesman Eric Gullickson said that college officials did not want to cut the Nursing Program but the global /national/state financial crisis was forcing cuts. He said that Nursing classes often had less than twelve students enrolled per semester. When asked about Dr. Richards’ comment that the program was self-sufficient, Gullickson would neither refute or confirm it. He stated that eliminating the program would save the college over $500,000 a year in its budget. When asked if that logically meant the program was currently losing the college over $500,000 a year, Gullickson said, "no, it doesn’t mean that."

"As we approached this process we used a set of ground rules and criteria and a budget process early on to assess all areas about campus. One of the reasons is the Nursing program is planned to phase out is it’s consistently been under-enrolled. It’s also an expensive program per student to operate," Gullickson said. The college also is suspending admission to several other "low-enrolled graduate programs," including Chemistry, Earth Science, French, Mathematics and Spanish.

The specific reason SUNY New Paltz was in the $6 million budgetary hole was the decision of the New York State Legislature to use 80 percent of a tuition increase put in place by SUNY trustees to stuff the coffers of the state budget. In an irony that seems to be endemic of the state government structure, while SUNY trustees have the ability to request increases in tuition rates – and insist they do so based upon operations costs and planned for support in the state budget – they have no legal ability to keep the state legislature from taking those tuition increases and putting them into the state’s general fund, which is what happened this year. So, in effect, this year the state legislature agreed to the tuition increase, kept 80 percent of it for non-education spending – and then ordered the 64 campuses in the SUNY system to come up with a plan to staunch the red ink that flowed from the legislative action.

State Senator Steve Saland told the Hudson Valley Business Journal that "the SUNY system requested a tuition increase and the Legislature agreed to their request of $620 per year increase. However the Legislative majority, over the objection of myself and my Republican colleagues, took 80 percent of that money. As a result SUNY has required each of their 64 campuses to help make up the deficit. New Paltz got socked with this $6 million hit, which they are taking out of the Nursing program, which is really going to work a hardship on the profession here, particularly on the Mid-Hudson region, to the extent that it’s going to make it difficult for nurses to secure that 4-year diploma. It’s really going to negatively impact the delivery of care, and I would hope there would be some means to eliminate or lessen that blow."

Nursing faculty Karen Sieverding and Anne Kelly also spoke with the Hudson Valley Business Journal. Both teachers are adjunct faculty members. Sieverding is a nurse at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx and Kelly is a nurse at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie.

"The program is…vital," said Sieverding. "We were all in disbelief. None of us had input into this. It was a done deal when we were told about it. We have till the 25^th of this month to voice concerns. I believe the program is self-sustaining and their letter is contradictory."

Kelly said, "there is only one college close by that offers a four-year program and that is Mount Saint Mary’s. I am concerned over transfer of credits from community colleges to private institutions, it is an easy process in the public system. As far as the program being vital, I can’t imagine anything being more vital. We teach them knowledge evidence-based procedures and teach them to do research, so when they go to bedside they can give high-quality care and think outside the box." International student from Russia, Polina N., said she had gained a lot from the program.

"They show you a different approach, how to be a leader," she said. She was "devastated" that administrators chose to phase out the program. "I was upset because it looks like there is a great nursing shortage. How are they going to improve nursing care?" The college’s press release said their plan: "has been designed to preserve the academic core of the college, honor tenure, minimize the impact on its workforce , allow it to maintain an adequate reserve and position itself to make critical investments."

The college is cutting 3.7 million from non-instructional areas and $2.3 million will come from the instructional budget. It is also implementing revenue generation ideas that will bring in $250,000 annually. The college also has strategized to reduce energy usage by $325,000. The college will reduce staff by 70 positions through retirements, attrition and non-renewals of contracts.

"These decisions were not made easily," said President Steven Poskanzer. "The severe economic recession has hit New York especially hard, and the recently-enacted state budget drives those consequences home to New Paltz in a most direct and painful way. It is distressing that SUNY’s state-operated campuses have been hit harder than any other segment of New York’s educational institutions and it is particularly egregious that the new budget fundamentally breached faith with students and their families by sweeping 80 percent of the additional tuition charged."

Gullickson said the SUNY Delhi’s online Nursing program could be a good avenue for nurses interested in SUNY New Paltz’s program. The Provost of SUNY Delhi said his college would accept the 11 students slated to begin the Nursing program at SUNY New Paltz in Fall 2009.

"We deeply regret that we will no longer contribute to society in this way. We will need to find other ways to serve our region and state," said Poskanzer."This is a good program and the college is proud of it, but in this budgetary climate, the college simply cannot continue to do everything it currently does."

In their press release, SUNY New Paltz stated the following reasons they chose the Nursing Program to be phased out, some already mentioned in this article:
• Nursing is an expensive program on a cost-per-student basis compared with other academic offerings.
• The program is not closely linked to our liberal arts core.
• New Paltz has had difficulty recruiting, retaining and awarding tenure to fully credentialed nursing faculty, in no small part because of a national shortage of nursing faculty.
• There are several schools in the region that compete for a very small population of people who go on to pursue their B.S. and M.S. in Nursing, including SUNY Delhi, Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh and Excelsior College.