QUESTION
How are budget cuts affecting the City University of New York (CUNY) and its student services?
1:46:31
·
116 sec
The City University of New York (CUNY) is using strategic funds to mitigate budget cuts, focusing on maintaining student services and infrastructure.
- Strategic funds are allocated to colleges for essential resources and infrastructure support.
- Artificial intelligence employed to streamline procedures, increasing staff's capacity for student support.
- Special attention is given to the FAFSA process, with additional resources provided to colleges for this transition.
- Despite budget cuts, CUNY sees an enrollment increase, indicating resilience and a commitment to ensuring student needs are met.
Rita Joseph
1:46:31
We wanna make sure we're equitable CUNY, how is budget cut impacting some of the services that you provide, especially to particularly to this program?
Reine Sarmiento
1:46:43
Particular to the application?
Rita Joseph
1:46:47
The system as a whole.
1:46:48
You're gonna get students if getting cuts, professors are being cut, programs are being cut, how has the cuts impacted CUNY?
Reine Sarmiento
1:46:59
How much time do you have?
1:47:00
No.
1:47:01
Just kidding.
1:47:02
I think that for for acuity in general, and this particular program is very important to us.
1:47:09
We have used our strategic funds allocated to us to be able to ensure that the colleges not only have the resources they need to identify it, but also the proper infrastructure in looking at and having this self sustaining.
1:47:26
I know from my offices, we are looking at artificial intelligence to be able to streamline some of our procedures and processes so that our recruiters, our financial aid advisers, have the time to spend with their students.
1:47:40
This FAFSA process while touted as simplified, that 1st year will be very difficult.
1:47:46
And so we've devoted resources out directly to the colleges to be able to help that, and also looking at infrastructure to be able to help them from the future on.
1:47:57
It will be challenging, but everyone that I've spoke to in leadership at the campuses are really devoted to making sure that we provide as much as we can for the students, because we're moving out of and we have moved out of the pandemic.
1:48:13
And we're even seeing increases our enrollment for this spring, but the largest freshman class I've seen since I've been in in CUNY.
1:48:22
And so we want to be able to exercise that momentum and make sure that the students are getting the services they need.