The City University of New York (CUNY) provides a world class education to poor and working class students, and CUNY faculty conduct cutting edge research. But for too long, CUNY has achieved its mission on a shoestring budget. If CUNY were funded at the same per-student rate as in 1990, its budget would be $920 million larger according to our calculations. If CUNY were tuition-free, as it was for more than a century, its 270,000 students - a majority of whom are people of color - would have more than a billion dollars total in their pockets to pay rent and make ends meet while they pursue college degrees.

For $1.7 billion, New York State can fund CUNY as it was funded just a few decades ago, rebuild its core services, and make CUNY tuition-free again. The New Deal for CUNY (S2146/A5843) is the vehicle to do it.

Read our concept paper outlining the urgent need for reinvestment in CUNY, the policy framework behind New Deal for CUNY, and a roadmap for restoring public higher education as a true engine of opportunity, equity, and economic mobility.