[Important Information for Employees] Campus Context for Federal Stimulus and State Budget

[Administration & Finance]

SENT ON BEHALF OF JOSEE LAROCHELLE, VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADMINISTRATION AND
FINANCE

Campus Community,

I am writing to put into context recent developments in federal spending,
SUNY's state budget request and what they mean for the college.



* Federal Stimulus to Assist *The recently passed federal stimulus provides
$23 billion for higher education, with funding broken into categories
similar to the CARES Act: direct grants to students and institutional
support for the college.

>From this, SUNY Plattsburgh will be receiving $8.7 million. This will be
divided between $2.6 million grants given to students and $5.7 million can
be used for institutional costs. Under the legislation, these can include
lost revenue, technology associated with distance education, faculty and
staff training, payroll, and student support activities related to
COVID-19.

The infusion of this key federal funding is much welcomed and will help
SUNY Plattsburgh through this difficult year.

*Level State Budget Request*
The SUNY Board of Trustees proposed budget included a request for level
state funding, authority for the board to set tuition, and $10 million in
COVID-19 funding.

The impact to SUNY Plattsburgh of this proposed budget is that our state
funding will not change. Keep in mind that this is only the first step in
the state budget process. The next step is for the governor to release his
proposed budget mid- to late-January.


*Limits on State Funding*
As you might recall from my September 2020 budget forum, we received only
85 percent of our New York State funding for the last fiscal year,
2019-2020 and had not yet received any state funding for the current fiscal
year, 2020-2021. Accordingly, the College was proceeding with the following
assumptions;

·         We will receive 70 percent of the current fiscal year state
funding.

·         We will not receive the remaining 15 percent of last fiscal
year's state funding.

·         We were projecting a $1.3 million surplus at the end of this
fiscal year. That's down from nearly $8.4 million at the beginning of
fiscal year 2019-2020.

Additionally, the state is only providing 80 percent of all Tuition
Assistance Program and Excelsior Scholarship funding. And there is no
additional guidance from SUNY or the state on when funding will be provided
or how much will ultimately be allocated for  higher education.

*Strategic College Budget Development Ahead*
As we enter the second half of 2020-2021 and embark on budget development
for 2021-2022, this all means we have few specific answers but know we must
work together to prepare well for our financial future.

Campus leadership is discussing how to align our emerging strategic
planning efforts and our budget development processes. As discussions
continue and deeper examination of the state’s financial position provides
more insights, we will share more updates.

At this point, it is clear state reductions will persist and the reductions
will apply to all state funding including higher education scholarships
such as TAP and Excelsior.

While this update does not provide great detail, it is important that we
all understand the impacts of both federal funding and the state’s funding
as they develop.

Stay tuned for more updates later this month.
*ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE*
901 Kehoe Building

101 Broad Street

Plattsburgh, NY 12901

(o) 518-564-2130

*plattsburgh.edu <http://plattsburgh.edu>*
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