Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
AGENCY TESTIMONY
Factors contributing to CUNY's structural deficit
0:18:33
ยท
122 sec
Batista outlines the key factors that have contributed to CUNY's structural deficit, providing context for the university's financial challenges. He emphasizes that addressing this deficit has been a top priority for the administration.
- Sharp post-pandemic enrollment declines
- Unfunded mandatory costs absorbed by the university
- Reduction in funding for community colleges due to Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG)
- Detailed review of campus financial plans and implementation of savings plans
Hector Batista
0:18:33
Before I turn to the fiscal year twenty twenty six preliminary budget, let me first offer an update on CUNY financial position.
0:18:40
We testified before you last year with a clear picture of the difficulty financial challenges faced by CUNY.
0:18:48
And we were up plan to stabilize the financial at CUNY.
0:18:53
Tackling CUNY structure deficit has been and continues to be a top priority.
0:18:57
The structure deficit is largely driven by sharp post pandemic enrollment declines.
0:19:03
An unfunded mandatory cost the university had to absorb on several for several years.
0:19:09
Another factor is is the reduction in funding for community college due to the program to eliminate the gap or pegs, which also affect college budget.
0:19:20
Through the detailed review of campus financial plans, sound decision making, and close collaboration with campus community, we have made considerable progress, but there's more to be to do.
0:19:33
The progress we made on the expense side of the ledger has involved hard but necessary decision at campus level.
0:19:42
We developed a framework for assessing college financial targets and across the board savings plans.
0:19:50
These were hard to undertake, but we we did what we needed to do to make sure we stabilized those colleges.
0:19:56
These targeted approaches examined key indicators such as the presence of cash deficit, the size of the college structure deficit connected to their budget, and the campus overall reserves.
0:20:10
After evaluating college financial condition based on these indicators, nine colleges are deemed to be of high financial concerns, which meant that we had to subject those colleges of high restriction and deficit reduction to reduce expenses.
0:20:26
We continue to work closely with these colleges to improve their financial conditions while focused on a balanced approach to reduce the expenses and generate revenues.