SUNY chancellor announces $18M awarded to 31 colleges

Nancy Zimpher

State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher delivers the State of the University address on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in Albany, N.Y.

((AP Photo/Mike Groll))

ALBANY, N.Y. -- SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher announced Monday $18 million in grants to 31 colleges, including $3 million to campuses in Central New York, to improve student graduation rates.

The chancellor said in her 2016 State of the University speech that this is the first round of funding from a $100 million fund that was established last year with $18 million in state seed money.

In her 49-minute speech, Zimpher also called on the state Legislature this year to extend the SUNY 2020 plan by maintaining funding for the 64 campuses in the State University of New York. Zimpher asked lawmakers to extend SUNY's authority to approve reasonable tuition increases at the colleges in a multi-year plan. A five-year plan lawmakers approved in 2011, which capped annual tuition increases at $300 a year at most SUNY campuses, expires this year.

Tuition is now $6,470 a year for New York residents enrolled full-time in undergraduate programs at SUNY colleges.

With the grants, SUNY is trying to increase its graduation rate. Of the students who entered SUNY colleges in 2006, 47 percent graduated in four years, 62 percent in five years and 64 percent in six years, according to SUNY statistics.

The $3 million in funding to colleges in Central New York includes:

SUNY Cortland

$1 million to scale up the Sharing Technology and Academic Resources-NY Consortium (STAR-NY), a real-time, online tutoring service that is free to students. STAR-NY includes 14 SUNY schools sharing resources and expertise.

$240,000 to work with Tompkins-Cortland Community College and SUNY Broome to support the transfer path from a two-year to four-year baccalaureate program.

SUNY Oswego

$750,000 to begin a three-pronged effort to improve student outcomes in math, including a Mathematics Learning Success Center, summer bridge program, and technologically-enhanced instruction.

$275,000 shared by SUNY Oswego and Jefferson Community College to support the Start Now program, where students from low-income areas who do not meet freshman admission criteria can enroll in community college and receive various supports from the four-year campus, including a student mentor.

SUNY Upstate

$575,000 to establish the SUNY Institute for Precision Cancer Research, Education and Care (IPCREC), which will fuse a patient's personal data to the cancer treatments in the clinic. Partnering campuses include: SUNY Oswego, Onondaga Community College, and SUNY ESF.

SUNY ESF

$190,000 for the College of Environmental Science & Forestry in Syracuse to support new online-enabled STEM-focused programs that will increase overall enrollment and credentialing.

Full list of grants awarded to 31 SUNY institutions statewide

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