BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

Updated at 9:33 a.m. May 8 to include statement from SUNY Canton

POTSDAM — SUNY Potsdam is getting an additional $1.1 million in direct funding from the recently approved state budget and SUNY Canton will receive an increase of $900,000 in its state funding allotment in 2024-2025.

While the increases for the local colleges and for schools statewide are being touted by state officials, the president of the United University Professions (UUP) union which represents employees at both Potsdam and Canton, said he was disappointed in the distributions and the colleges in need still are not getting enough to pay off burgeoning multi-million deficits.

According to an announcement by the State University of New York Board of Trustees, the funding increase for SUNY Potsdam is an 8.4 percent increase in the college’s state funding amount for the coming year.

The announcement said SUNY Potsdam’s allocation of direct state tax support in both 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 amounts to $3.6 million or a 33.4 percent increase over the two years.

For SUNY Canton, the percentage increase is even greater. SUNY Canton’s $900,000 in 2024-2025 is a 12.2 percent increase in direct state tax support. That college’s increase over 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 amounts to a total of $2.7 million or 50.1 percent.

In their announcement May 2, the State University of New York Board of Trustees called the increases “a historic investment” and praised the governor for the aid bump.

The board said the increases statewide are “the largest two-year infusion in at least five decades with an increase of $277 million in Direct State Tax Support allocated to SUNY.”

SUNY Potsdam is sporting a $9 million deficit.

You can attribute this to me or a college spokesperson – whatever you feel is best.

In Potsdam’s case, the college’s chief financial officer has predicted the school will be able to drop the deficit back down to $3 million by next year by following its financial recovery strategy. So far that has meant cuts to programs and positions and more are expected down the line.

The UUP issued a counter statement to the SUNY board announcement May 2 which was critical of how the funds are to be distributed among campuses.

United University Professions President Frederick E. Kowal said in the statement that he was disappointed with what he said was the SUNY board’s decision to “underfund” the 19 cash strapped colleges around the state, which includes the two St. Lawrence County schools.

Kowal said SUNY Canton is carrying a deficit of $5 million,  a SUNY Canton spokesperson  disputed the claim, but did not provide further details aside from the following statement.

"The State’s increases in operational funding in 2023 and in 2024  have helped us balance our revenue and expenses. We thank SUNY, Gov. Hochul and the State Legislature for their continued support for SUNY and the SUNY Canton campus. The college has ended the past two years with a moderate surplus," the statement said.

“For the second year in a row, the Trustees approved an allocation plan that sends the lion’s share of funding to the financially secure university centers and doles out what’s left to the rest of the campuses—including those dealing with multimillion-dollar deficits,” the UUP statement said.

Quoted directly in the statement, Kowal said the following.

“Once again, SUNY leadership has been taken down the wrong road again by Chancellor John King Jr.,” said Kowal, who leads the nation’s largest higher education union. “By doing so, they continue to undermine the system they are supposed to lead.

“The chancellor and the Trustees have again refused to do the right thing by not allocating state funding to our campuses based on need,” Kowal continued. “It’s unconscionable and it ignores nearly two decades of SUNY underfunding under the Cuomo administration.”

The president said the funding increases will help university centers downstate but the cash could have wiped out the $146 million in combined deficit from the 19 most cash strapped colleges around the state.

Nearly $300 million in direct state aid to SUNY is in the enacted budget and can be used to make our financially strapped campuses whole,” said Kowal. But the Trustees—following the chancellor’s plan—chose not to do that.

“The deficits our 19 campuses are dealing with are huge, and once again they aren’t getting enough,” he said.