Facing Political and Demographic Shifts, CUNY Financial Leaders are Strengthening Financial Practices
By Lisa McMonagle, Senior Policy Associate
The CUNY system is one of the premiere public universities in the country, educating hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers a year and serving as a major social economic engine for the city. Managing the budgets of its 26 colleges is, thus, complex. ISLG’s Financial Planning Fellowship for Higher Education gives CUNY college leaders to the tools to balance budgets while advancing academic innovation.
The City University of New York (CUNY) is a national economic mobility powerhouse for its students and the city at large. Its 26 colleges serve more than 240,000 students each year, helping six times more low-income students rise into and beyond the middle class than all Ivy League schools combined. A big part of what makes this possible is financial aid: 7 in 10 CUNY students attend tuition-free, whether through financial aid, grants, scholarships, or other forms of assistance. Even considering tuition before assistance, CUNY schools offer a “best value” education for a fraction of the cost of private institutions.
CUNY’s 26 colleges serve more than 240,000 students each year, helping six times more low-income students rise into and beyond the middle class than all Ivy League schools combined.
As tuition makes up just 20 percent of CUNY’s revenue, the system relies heavily on funding from the State and City for its operations. This funding not only enables CUNY schools to administer their current programs but allows the university system to innovate and meet the changing needs of its students and, through their economic impact, make an investment in all New Yorkers. For instance, the new FY 2027 New York State budget includes funding for a new Biomedical AI Research and Education Initiative, microcredential programs in math and reading, emergency aid to students, and funding for workforce development programs like CUNY Beyond, a new initiative to ensure that more students graduating with their degrees can quickly launch their careers.
Facing Uncertainty, Thinking Strategically to meet Academic and Operational Goals
Managing this blend of funding is no small feat. Budget and finance leaders at CUNY colleges face an array of challenges: pandemic-induced enrollment declines, expiration of COVID stimulus funds, and the impending “enrollment cliff” that estimates there will be 27 percent fewer college graduates in New York by 2041. This compounds with uncertainty in the legislative process, given that funding levels can vary year to year depending on State and City budgets.
To face these challenges, CUNY finance and budget leaders need to think both big and small—to conceptualize CUNY within a larger city and state budgeting landscape and, at the same time, focus on the particular fiscal context and academic goals of their colleges. College leaders need to develop and implement strategies for efficiently and effectively allocating resources as well as for tracking performance and progress towards finance and budget goals.
CUNY finance and budget leaders need to think both big and small—to conceptualize CUNY within a larger city and state budgeting landscape and, at the same time, focus on the particular fiscal context and academic goals of their colleges.
Since 2018, ISLG has worked with CUNY to enhance its academic and administrative efficiency and effectiveness. Tapping into our staff’s deep expertise in public finance, higher education, and operational management, this has included developing a roadmap for streamlining the credit transfer process between schools, consolidating procurement purchases into a centralized online marketplace, and other quality improvements and cost savings.
While much of this focused on centralized CUNY-wide functions, this kind of operational strategic thinking can and should be applied to individual colleges, too. CUNY and ISLG partnered to launch the Financial Planning Fellowship for Higher Education, a professional development program aimed at helping CUNY college finance and budget officers meet these needs.
Giving CUNY Finance Leaders the Insights, Tools, and Expertise for Strong Budgets—and Strong Schools
The Fellowship aims to enhance the financial planning skills and tools of college finance and budget leaders, provide crucial insights into CUNY’s financial challenges in the context of the New York State and City budgets, and give college leaders the chance to exchange ideas and best practices with each other and to have in-depth conversations with CUNY leadership. Last month, we wrapped its first cohort of the Fellowship, made up of finance and budget officers from nine CUNY schools.
The Fellowship aims to enhance the financial planning skills and tools of college finance and budget leaders, provide crucial insights into CUNY’s financial challenges in the context of the New York State and City budgets.
Fellowship sessions included a discussion with policy experts to better understand the State's economic positioning and the funding outlook for higher education in New York. CUNY-wide leadership also presented shared services opportunities—such as centralization versus having replicated efforts at the schools—and opened the floor for suggestions from colleges on further areas to pursue. College leaders also discussed revenue generating strategies and made notes of strategies they were not yet pursuing, particularly in areas like space usage. The second cohort will start this fall, engaging another nine CUNY schools.
As colleges across the country face financial uncertainty, it is critical that leaders are equipped with the skills, tools, and confidence to face the future head-on. The work of these leaders drives CUNY’s success, ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently and effectively so that CUNY can continue to be a transformative driver in advancing economic mobility for New Yorkers.
Photo by Beyond My Ken on Wikimedia Commons.