[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Sergeant-at-Arms, moving forward no one is to approach this. Chair, we are ready to begin. Good afternoon everyone. I am Council Member Richards Joseph, Chair of the New York City Committee on Higher Education. Welcome to today's hearing on the city's fiscal 2027 preliminary budget hearing for the City University of New York. Before we begin, I want to acknowledge my council member the council members present. Council Member Louis, Council Member Epstein. That's it. Okay. CUNY consists of 26 colleges throughout all five boroughs and is an essential form of economic mobility for New Yorkers. In 2024, over 46,000 CUNY graduates entered the workforce or began a more advanced degree program. CUNY alumni generate approximately 70 billion in annual earnings and every tax dollar that is invested in CUNY yield a return of at least $15 for New York State. CUNY's fiscal 2027 preliminary budget total 1.5 billion, which includes 1.11 billion in personal service to support 6,024 budgeted positions including 4,289 pedagogical positions and 101,735 non-pedagogical positions. CUNY budget also include 436 millions in other personal services spending. In this preliminary budget, OPTS budget has decreased by nearly 61 million compared to last year's adopted budget due to one-time funding for several programs including CUNY Reconnect, ASAP and ACE not being accounted for in the budget. CUNY's proposal fiscal 2027 budget comprises mostly of 75.7% of city funding and 19.6% of state funding. The restoration and expansion of funding are crucial to providing adequate service, academic support and financial resources for students to succeed in their education. Many students struggles with housing instability, food insecurity, child care issue and the high cost of transportation. Again, we must invest in programs that clear pathways to increase graduation rates. At today's hearing, I look forward to hearing how current CUNY programs deliver for our students as well as discussing potential resources needed to continue to break barriers to education regardless of students physical mobility, financial condition or immigration status. We will also examine programs that aim to inspire New York City public school students to consider higher education after graduation. Furthermore, we are interested in hearing about CUNY's fiscal 2027 budget ask at the state and city levels. There is no doubt that many CUNY buildings are in desperate need of maintenance and repair for issues such as but not limited to leaking roofs, non-working elevators. We will examine how university prioritize capital projects funding to ensure that to ensure that it provides equity repairs and maintenance across all colleges. We must also find disparities that exist in programs and between campuses and work to address them. CUNY has the power to bring positive change to New Yorkers' lives. We must continue to fund equitable programs to better serve existing students and attract the prospective ones. Before I'd like before we begin, I would like to thank finance staff Ali Stouffer, Florentine Cabaret and Isha Wright for their work on this hearing as well as committee staff Julia Goldsmith, Pinkham and Regina Paul for their service. For their support. Finally, I would like to also thank my staff, Giovanni Picone, my chief of staff. And now I'll turn over to council to administer the oath to the members of the administration, but before No one else turned. Okay. Uh please raise your right hand. I'll address you uh each at a time. Do you swear to tell the truth before these committee members uh to the best of your ability? I do. Do you swear? I do. I do. >> Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Joseph and members of the City Council Higher Education Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. My name is Alicia Alvero and I serve as the Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost for CUNY. I am joined today by CUNY's Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Hector Batista and Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Ken Gardner. Before I begin, I want to welcome those of you who are new to this committee. We look forward to partnering with you to address the challenges of higher education and to support our students. The power of CUNY as an engine of economic mobility is widely known and is something I identify with as a first generation college student. When I first came to CUNY Queens College as an assistant professor in 2003, I was relieved to learn the college offered affordable child care for faculty and student parents. This center allowed me to pursue my career knowing that my daughter, then 3 and 1/2, was close by and in good hands. Without this support, I would not be sitting here today. And without our partners in government, we would not continue our critical work. The city's council support is essential to helping the university expand access for students and increase its role as an engine of upward mobility and economic development. Your investments in our programs have fueled three straight years of enrollment gains at CUNY and propelled our colleges to the top of national rankings year after year. Our work is not finished. To meet workforce demands and to strengthen outcomes for our students, we are expanding our programs and facilities to ensure our students have the best chance of success. Creating a pipeline of qualified workers to the city's workforce remains an urgent priority at CUNY. We created innovative programs and partnerships to further align the university to workforce needs and ultimately to get our students jobs. In my role as a chief academic officer, I oversee many of these key initiatives that partner with the city and the council, like CUNY Beyond, which was launched in October. CUNY Beyond is a system-wide initiative that bakes career readiness into every aspect of an undergraduate's college experience. The initiative aims to triple the number of students in paid internships and increase employer recruitment from CUNY by 20%, ensuring a smooth transition from the classroom to the workforce. Through career-connected learning, academic and career advising, paid internships and apprenticeships, and employer engagement, we will enable students to launch fulfilling careers after they graduate. We started in July with four campuses and we are looking to the council for support in expanding to two more community colleges and 70,000 students in the next phase. Successful implementation of all our undergraduate campuses is projected to drive an estimated $3.3 billion in future wage growth and provide a $700 million return on public investment through earnings and economic mobility. CUNY has worked hard to strengthen its partnerships with NYCPS knowing that the key to unlocking in-demand careers for students is to equip them with the post-secondary credentials and connections to employees before they graduate high school. Programs like College Now and Future Ready NYC ensure our students see themselves as college students with professional career paths and a head start on life after college. College Now nearly serves 6,000 high school seniors from the class of 2025. While Future Ready NYC has shown steady growth with enrollment rising from an estimated 7,500 students in fiscal year 2025 to projected 10,000 students in fiscal year 2026. CUNY also plays a critical role in addressing the statewide teacher shortage. I'm proud to say that CUNY prepares more than 1/3 of all New York City public school teachers and more than 40% of teachers of color in New York State. This stems from innovative programs like the NYC Teaching Fellows, which placed 526 recent college graduates into New York City classrooms and master's degree programs across the university in 2025, more than tripling the numbers enrolled in the program at CUNY the previous year. CUNY is also working to expand its already robust early childhood education program to help advance Governor Hochul and Mayor Mandami's shared goal of delivering free child care for 2-year-olds across New York City. With 17 campus-based child care centers, 13 early childhood degree programs, and work of the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, CUNY is uniquely positioned to support the student parents while also recruiting, training, credentialing, and retaining the educators needed to make the governor and mayor's efforts successful. Through bilingual credit-bearing programs, we are ensuring these opportunities reach as many students and families as possible. The same goes for CUNY's landmark accessibility management system, CUNY Accommodate, which has streamlined requests for disability services and helped connect more students than ever to broader network of resources. Since launching in last January, enrollment of students requesting services has shot up by approximately 25%, reaching a record-breaking 13,800 students and the academic year is not yet complete. CUNY Accommodate also continues to be an important lever for the incoming NYCPS graduates who want to connect with their respective campus disability offices early. We have revamped our communications process and are committed to having a more seamless data sharing infrastructure in place by June of this year to benefit the high school class of 2026 and we are on track to meet our goal. In fall 2022, with support from the New York City Council, we launched CUNY Reconnect to address a pressing workforce need and another underserved group, re-engaging hundreds of thousands of working-age adults who earned college credits but stopped short of completing a degree. Thanks to nearly $7.6 million in direct financial support to date, CUNY Reconnect has graduated almost 6,000 associate degree students and over 7,000 bachelor's degree students, strengthening strengthening not only individual families but New York City's economy as a whole. CUNY's groundbreaking ASAP program of financial, educational, and career advisement services for associate degree students continues to more than double 3-year completion rates at the university when compared to non-ASAP students. The program, which also provides personalized advisement, tuition and fee gap awards, textbook assistance, and omnicards, has supported nearly 70 institutions across nine states to replicate CUNY's innovative model of student success and access. ACE, a related program that supports bachelor's degree completion, achieved a 4-year graduation rate 12.4% higher than qualifying students who did not participate. However, uncertainty surrounds the program because it is not yet baselined. Another new initiative to help support students, CUNY Cares, started in fall 2023 to help Bronx students find the campus and essential services they need for health care, mental health, food, and housing. By helping students meet these needs, CUNY Cares hopes to improve academic success and overall well-being of students who need it most. So far, preliminary results are encouraging. By fall 2025, more than 1,000 additional Bronx students were enrolled in SNAP compared to 2022. With an average monthly SNAP benefit of $233, these students collectively brought an estimated $2.96 million into their household budgets in that year alone. Lastly, I want to highlight achievements among CUNY researchers and how they've impacted New York City by improving public health, climate resilience, and workforce readiness. From the NYC Urban Heat Portal at Hunter College to FloodNet's real-time flood monitoring to informing the city's COVID and mpox response, CUNY researchers continue to help the city address emergencies while supporting workforce development through programs that train students for climate, public health, and technology careers. As I conclude my remarks, I want to thank the City Council for your unwavering commitment to CUNY and its students, faculty, and staff. Our success is intertwined in the city's economic, social, and cultural vitality. We look forward to continuing to partner with you. Now, I'd like to turn it over to CUNY COO and EVC Hector Batista to further address the importance of our collaboration with the city to reach our shared goals of equity and access for all New Yorkers. Thank you. Thank you, Alicia, and thank you, Speaker Adams, Chair Joseph, members of the Higher Education Committee, and all members of the City Council for your steadfast support of CUNY. We deeply appreciate your commitment to our students, faculty, and staff and for always recognizing the value CUNY provides to our city and state. Before I turn to the FY27 preliminary budget, let me first offer an update on CUNY's financial position. We testified here last year with a clear picture of financial challenges facing CUNY. Our plan for stabilizing our financial position, tackling CUNY's structural deficit, has been and continues to be a top priority. Structural deficit is largely driven by steep enrollment decline and unfunded mandatory costs that the university has had to absorb over several years. Through a detailed review of campus financial plans, sound decision-making, and close collaboration with our campus community, we have made considerable progress, but there's more to do. The progress we made on the expense side of the ledger has involved hard but necessary decisions at the campus level. We developed a framework for assessing college financing that is more targeted than across-the-board savings plans that we had to compel to undertake during the pandemic. This targeted approach examined key indicators such as the presence of cash deficit, the size of the college structural deficit as a percent of his budget, and the amount of the campus reserve. Originally, nine colleges were deemed to be of high financial concern. We meant We we work very hard with working with them on a hiring restriction and deficit reduction target to reduce their expenses. Through a disciplined approach, close partnership, and support of these campuses, we have brought that number down to six colleges and one is getting closer to coming off that list. We continue to work closely with colleges still on the on the list to improve their financial condition. While focus on balanced approach to reduce expenses and opportunities to generate revenues. University-wide, we have realized significant reduction and structural deficit. Among the factors leading to declines are expense reduction across the university, additional state aid, and an enrollment uptick. The combination of these factors has led to a nearly 68% reduction on overall structural deficits from $234 million in FY22 to an estimated $76 million projected at the end of FY26, according to the media estimate. This year enrollment growth was over 3.5% for a 2-year increase of 5.5 and almost 13,000 students. This translate into additional revenues that for every 1% increase in enrollment generates approximately $14.3 million. We enter this budget cycle with goal to sustaining a momentum, but we recognize the uncertainty that exists. Including actions at the federal level they can have a direct impact on CUNY or have an indirect impact because increased pressure on the state and city budget. That is why we continue to advance our efficiency strategy by implementing city system-wide shared service initiatives, including centralizing IT, procurement contracts to benefit from economy at scale, movement of facility to shared service model to more effectively deploy maintenance and repairs, and allow the consolidated service contract to negotiate better pricing and better better services. We are also streamlining tuition fee collection planning. These initiatives, including upfront investment required to build operational infrastructure as well as underway. We're beginning to see some initial savings and we're hopeful that further implementation initiative will achieve meaningful efficiencies in FY27. Now turning to the preliminary budget, its impact on our operating budget. We thank the administration for fully funding the labor contract and the rising health care insurance costs. Our priority going forward is to ensure the continued funding for increased costs, especially collective bargaining, fringe benefit, on the expense side of the house. In In this budget cycle, our top priority is funding vital capital projects for our community college. We thank you for a strong advocacy for CUNY programs. We look forward to working closely with you and your colleagues to ensure funding for many of these important programs in the adopted budget. I want to highlight a few areas that we look forward to you partnership and support for additional funding. Early childhood workforce development to strengthen our early childhood education pilot pipeline, which is so important as the city expands its 3K and 2K. Baseline funding for reconnect, which is has proven to be a very successful program. Additional funding to support student with disability. Funding for free Omni card pilot, which is priority for our student senate. And And some of the other programs are ASAP, ACE, food insecurity, child care, just to name a few. Lastly, let me turn it over to facilities. As you know, CUNY has set an ambition goal to bring our facilities to a state of good repair from 50 to 55% of vital systems in a state of good repair by 2030. We're proud what we have accomplished so far. Approximately 32% of our vital systems now in a state of good repair, which is up from 27% from last year. And our baseline was 23 when we started. Our strategy for meeting these goals include assessing the health of our different building components enable us to better prioritize our capital program. By using data metrics, we can more efficiently expand our capital dollars and improve our facilities for our students, faculty, and staff. Our priorities are also shaped by close collaboration with our campus community and through engagement with elected officials who seek to allocate discretionary funding for CUNY projects. While we can target what needs to be addressed, our priority in order, we cannot make progress without continued funding. We need expense We need dollars estimated at $200 million on the capital side for community college to bring them to a state of good repair. We look forward to getting securing funding from the city of $100 million and to be matched by the state. CUNY FY20C27 preliminary budget includes $1.5 billion in a 10-year plan. As previous cycle, CUNY has realigned its capital funding projected schedule to better match the years the project is is in the works. With regular communication with OMB about the status of our capital commitment, we thank the administration for recognizing the timing of the capital projects that are already in the plan. And for better matching the plan to when the projects are commencing. In conclusion, I would once like to express my gratitude to the City Council for supporting CUNY's priorities. And this plan is critical that CUNY capital request is funded, including the money we need to reach our state of good repair, as well as specific projects for the campus. We look forward to working with you to deliver much-needed resources for this invaluable institution. We thank you for the opportunity to testify and look forward to answering your questions. I'd like to recognize Council Member Dinowitz, Council Member Ariola on Zoom, and Council Member Maloney. CUNY's fiscal 2027 budget in the preliminary plan does not restore critical one-time funding for CUNY Reconnect ACE and ASAP. Can you provide an updated number of students currently enrolled in the CUNY Reconnect, ASAP, and ACE by campus? For CUNY I'm so sorry. Uh for CUNY ASAP, uh we are at 20,343 students enrolled in fall 2025. Um do you want the breakdown of every single college here? 2200, yep. Uh Bronx, we have 2,248. BMCC 5,545. City Tech, 1,212. Hostos 1,240. Kingsborough 2,289. LaGuardia, 2,000 2 2,780. Medgar Evers, 594. Queensborough 2,646. Staten Island, 1,793. For ACE, City College is 150. City Tech, 392. John Jay is 1,024. Lehman 597. Medgar Evers, 44. Queens, 249. Staten Island, 373. And York is 387 for a total of 3,216 ACE fall enrollment. And reconnect. Oh, thank you. For CUNY Reconnect, uh we have a total of 23,032 students and by campus. Starting with the senior colleges, Baruch, we have 814. Brooklyn 232. City College, 255. At the Graduate School, we have eight. At Hunter, 856. John Jay, 402. Labor of and Urban Studies is 124. We have one at the Law School. Lehman is 591. Medgar Evers, 334. At the Medical School, we have two. At New York City Tech, we have 358. The School of Professional Studies, 1,121. Public Health, 64. At Queens College, 2,664. College of Staten Island, 827. And at York, 1,369 for a total of 10,022. And at the community colleges, at BMCC, we have 5,125. At Bronx, we have 1,558. At Guttman, 73. Hostos, 2,037. Kingsborough 1,117. LaGuardia 554. At Queensborough, 2,546. For a total at the community colleges of 13,010. Thank you. And the schools with the lower numbers is is there's outreach or there's um to >> Yes. The there's outreach and when we communicate with uh students, um we ask them where they went to school. Some want to switch schools. We evaluate their credits to determine a lot of times these students have accumulated a lot of credits because they switch their major too many times. And sometimes it makes more sense to finish at a different school that has a major where those credits align and they're more closely aligned to graduation. And it's easy to transfer within the system. Correct. >> CUNY to CUNY. Exactly. Thank you. Um how much are you requesting for each of these programs in fiscal 2027? So for reconnect uh 7.8 and for ASAP uh 6.4 and ACE is uh 10.1. Okay. Got it. Impactful programs like reconnect and ACE have no funding currently baseline. How does this impact CUNY's ability to continue to plan for programming? Um I will take that one. Um the challenge with the uncertainty is recruiting for the following year. Uh with ASAP, we know how much is baseline now and we thank you very much for that support. So we're able to aim for the 20,000 student enrollment each each year, but the uncertainty is the remaining 4 to 5,000. And so that is always the challenge because if we wait until we find out when we have that money, we're at the last minute trying to recruit students. And students um very much love these programs. And so it's just that balance of what we can anticipate with baseline funding and the time for preparation of those services. Got it. Thank you. Um the budget for CUNY reconnect in the fiscal 2026 adopted was 7.8 million, which is an increase from 1.9 million from the funding allocated in 2025. How has this additional 1.5 1.9 million further expand the program? And how can you explain how the funding is being used? Um I will tell you the most beneficial impact um was the grant aid that we were able to provide to the students. So many students um that had balances of a thousand dollars or less, that was the impetus for re-registering and coming back to school and eliminated that small obstacle is what allowed them um to enroll back in school. And that was the most strategic way in which we were able to use the funding. Another thing that it enabled is the recruiters um with reconnect that they provide really great touch points and care and they ensure that they help them every step of the way. Some of these students because they've been out of school so long felt the process very overwhelming. And being able to provide um that level of support to them uh was uh invaluable because they they develop a very trusting relationship with these advisors and help them through the entire registration process to get them re-enrolled. Thank you. Thank you. Um the CUNY re-entry higher education program supports incarcerated individuals in in re-entering higher education. What is the fiscal 2026 budget and the projected 2027 budget for this program? We'll we'll have to get back to you. I'm I'm sorry I don't have that specific initiative. We would love to see what the numbers look like, how many folks you've impacted, and do you also um find job placements once the students has finished your program as these are incarcerated individuals who are re-entering our society. I can get you that information. Uh majority of that work happens at John Jay College um and so we're happy to provide that information for you. Thank you. Um and the CUNY Fatherhood Academy provides support to unemployed and underemployed dads with their educational goals in getting new and better jobs. The program is currently offered at LaGuardia Community College, Hostos Community College, Kingsborough Community College. How many students are involved by college? Getting to the page. So we have uh 141 students currently enrolled in uh the Fatherhood Academy. And I do not Oh, yes, I do. Thank you. Um for Hostos in fiscal year 25, um we had 41 new students for a total of 414. And so the number I listed before is a new the number of new students. Um Kingsborough was 28, uh total of 324. Uh for LaGuardia, 90 uh for a total of 851. And um yeah. So then the total in the program is 1,589. What is the budget of for this program for fiscal 2026 and FY27? The budget's a million dollars. Uh we've expended all of that already. Uh we're we're looking to get uh the million dollars baseline then any increase that we could get. Um and there's been discussion about expanding the Fatherhood Academy to other campuses. With additional funding, we would gladly expand it. Um how do you recruit fathers for this program? How is the outreach done? And how do you retain them and what's the next step once they graduate from you? Do you continue to support provide support? Uh yes. Uh some of the um the students that we recruit, so we actively a partner with uh New York City Public School because the ones that dropped out of high school, we have the program to get them their GED and support them that way. We also have a very robust um marketing campaign. Word of mouth has actually proven to be a very powerful tool as well. And so whether they are in the pre-enrollment uh GED process, we have a seamless pipeline to enroll them then into the associate degree and um then the bachelor's degree. And you prep them and allow them to enter your CUNY system. >> Absolutely. That's great. >> That is the goal. Um New York City Men Teach, which is part of the Young Men's Initiative in partnership between the Office of the Mayor, New York City Public Schools, and CUNY to increase the number of men of color in the teaching field. How many men are being served by the program currently and how many have been served since the beginning of the program? I do not have the total since the beginning of the program, but um this year we have 249 new students. Uh 600 each year are recruited into the program and we meet that target every year and it's across 16 colleges. Do you help with um do you help New York City Public Schools with placement or Absolutely. And what what what's some of the criteria? Is it high need um where there is no black male presence in those schools? We We work with New York City Public School and they establish the criteria um that's necessary, so I'm unfamiliar with the criteria. Um but since that's the one of the goals of the program, I um I suspect that that's exactly what is done is making that connection and placing them in places of high demand. Um what is the what is the current fiscal 2026 and projected 2027 budget for this program? This is for BMI, right? Uh New York City Men Teach. Men Teach. Oh, Men Teach. In a in a area of shortage of teachers, is there a plan to also expand this program to also recruit more teachers through this program? Yeah. With increased funding, absolutely. I can tell you what the operating budget was last year, uh 3.05 million dollars. And of course, more money would give you more Absolutely. I see I see the line. Yes. Yes. >> The the target we are limited to 600 new each year uh based off of the budget. Got it. Got it. Um yeah, so it did so it kind of circled into the question I was leading up to. How does this program has helped to reduce um teacher shortage issues in specific targeted areas? Absolutely. It's been instrumental uh for that. We have not had an issue with uh recruiting and meeting that demand based on the budget. What other programs CUNY have to encourage people of color into workforce? And what are the budgets for those programs? So um uh the other programs that we have are open to all and because of the diverse nature um of our population, we meet the workforce demands are open to all of our students. And um as you know, our our enrollment population is extremely diverse. So uh I will tell you in the teacher education um specifically, uh we have a lot of amazing programs in teacher education because of the strong partnership with NYCPS. Um the teaching fellows is just one of them uh that which we account for 55% now of the New York City uh fellows uh put in the placement. We also work closely and are recruiting the paraprofessionals that are currently in the NYCPS um to provide them with a launching pad um to advance their credentials for the goal of becoming a teacher. Uh we are offering a workshop webinar series. There's over a thousand people already interested in uh the teacher education program. These partnerships are paying off. Um this year was the first year we saw uh over 400 student increase enrollment specifically for education programs and we work very closely with NYCPS for the placement and the training um throughout that as well. Music to my ears um that we're trying to fill in the gap for teacher shortage. Um what does that look like in um especially with the needs for early childhood? Um I know that's going to be a need across the city. Can you tell us how many teachers you're looking to train in that space and from uh from all level from entry level cuz people think teachers are teachers. We started at entry level especially in um CBOs. There's different levels. Um can you tell us what does that look like? Absolutely. Uh that's one of the things I'm most excited to talk about uh because as you uh alluded um it starts with um child care early childhood which is a different credential um than um the classroom teacher and there is a very high demand and will be even more so. We anticipate we are uh anticipating over 3,800 people may be necessary for um the two-year-old program from uh the governor and the mayor and most of those will require CDA. And that CDA credential we partnered um with the School of Professional Studies at CUNY. Uh we offer it online and hybrid and last year uh we actually created a bilingual um to increase because we know um that a lot of the home services and center-based services are provided um in Spanish and in one semester alone uh we have 161 students in that program. Um I can tell you about a few other things. So yes, we anticipate about 3,800 home-based child care providers may need that credential and so we have a pipeline. One of the things in creating that pipeline that we were very intentional about because it's 12 credits, we ensured every single credit counts towards an associate or bachelor's degree if someone chooses to then uh pursue their education and it aligns with um with those degrees very seamlessly. And um I want to say that one out of every 20 undergraduate degrees awarded by CUNY was in the education field and um almost 1/3 of all of our master's degrees uh and 45% of all of our advanced certificates are in education every single year. Thank you so much. Um one issue impacting uh CUNY students we hear a lot is um housing insecurity. Without secure housing it's difficult for one to focus on their education. What program does CUNY have to offer students regarding housing insecurity and what are the budgets for those programs? So um the most impactful program that we have is CUNY Cares um and that model um has been extremely impactful where we um hold the students' hands through the process of applying and identifying their needs um to enroll them and find placement for them. And that is the program that we have seen the most success in because we know the process for um not just identifying their needs but fulfilling their needs whether it's food insecurity or housing insecurity and making that connection in order to enroll and provide that access. I just want to want to add that recently we negotiated a couple of uh dorm deals in the private sector and one of the components of that negotiation was to try to create an affordable an affordable component uh to that and we actually have two two dorms uh sorry, two dorms right now that are you know, the price point uh for our students is going to be really way below market. So it's some a model that we're trying to duplicate as much as we can. Uh and and and working with the private sector since they want to do business with uh with CUNY. Strategic partnerships are so important in this city. Um So so do you have a budget for the CUNY Cares? Yeah, I believe it's a million dollars. How much? 1 1 million? We're going to stay on the same thing. This is what we need for it to work. >> [laughter] >> How many CUNY students are formally or currently unhoused? Do you keep track of this number of cases where students request assistance? So we capture that information currently in our bi-annual survey of students, the student experience survey and in that survey 5% of the total university uh population has indicated that they have experienced housing insecurity within the last year. Um and so based off of that estimate um it would be about 7,871 students within one year uh have reported um housing insecurity. That's when the numbers are a little too high. Yes, and we have that percentage and numbers available by campus if you'd like. Thank you. Thank you. And the same um same goes with food insecurity. We know that's something our students face as well. So um students struggling with food insecurity which can add an additional barrier to students being able to attend class or feeling well enough to attend classes. Many CUNY campuses offer food pantry or fresh food program. How much was spent on the food CUNY uh on the CUNY food pantries and by college in fiscal 2026? I don't know if you have that number. Um in the food security code uh the the budget was is sorry in 2016 uh about $875,000. We've expended about 20% of that so far. Uh you know, I've I've data is a little on the lag so it's probably from February. Yeah, and I want to add that um all of the colleges also um seek grants and receive funding from grants and philanthropic partners. Um as a result of that um the amount of food available at the food pantries varies substantially because the money that we receive is is insufficient to meet the demands of the students. Um I do have some uh numbers to kind of share the the impact of that. Um in fiscal year 2025 uh we gave out three 33,736 bags of foods that were distributed and uh the campuses recorded in fiscal year 2025 177,564 visits to our food pantries. So we know that there's a very high demand and um one of our goals is to be able to meet that increasing demand. How many um What how much how is the amount of the funding per campus determined? How do you determine which campuses get what amount of money for the food pantry? >> Um well, we A um use a student experience survey and the results that indicate where we capture the housing and food insecurity and then we have a conversation with each campus. Some have very strong philanthropic partners and so we know what the the amount of money based off of the student survey result, what percentage of the students are likely to need support and we engage in a conversation with them because some colleges do not have such strong additional support. Some have successfully obtained grants for this as well and so while they may have a high need, may need less fiscally from us which allows us then to meet um the under sourced campuses. Um I I did a visit to a college um and one of the things that were discussed is the food pantry visit was time during the year that the food pantries are open. School breaks leave many students once again without food access. During the school break, how can we fix that? Um that's that's one of the things I know I see across um for example, I have a pantry and one of the things we do with the young people is they get to take food over the weekend cuz we don't see them and we don't know what they eat. So um is that something that's CUNY's being considered during the break students can take what they need to go home? There are some schools that because they receive additional funding are off able to offer uh those extended hours um but it really comes back to the fiscal resources available to offer the extended hours. And how much additional funding would we need to expand food pantries to serve food during school breaks as well? That's a that's an that's another question. >> I yep, I would uh get you that number. >> You want to give me some numbers? Absolutely. Would love to. Um aside from food pantries, what option do CUNY provide to students facing food insecurity? Aside from the fresh food program and um the the food pantries, that that's the extent of that we provide. Some of the campuses um may have um other programs that are philanthropically supported but centrally um those are the two that we uh manage system wide. I'm going to pass over to Council Member Lee, Chair Finance. Thank you, Chair and I love the green. We're continuing on with the theme this week. Um Okay, quick question before I get into the other budget questions just based off of your testimony. Should I call you Mr. Bautista or COO Bautista? I don't know what to say but um Hector, okay. >> [laughter] >> Just based off your testimony, sorry. Um I just wanted to see if you could help me understand cuz I know that you're saying that the deficit is really due to a lot of the steep enrollment declines, uh unfunded mandatory costs that we don't like. Um and just wondering cuz it says on the next page, sorry, I was just reading through this. Um that actually but the it's gone from the big gap [clears throat] that was closed, which is actually great. It seems like a combination of the factors has led to reduction of nearly 68% in the overall university structural debt from 234 million to approximately 76 million at the end of 26. So, just wanted to know what you've done to close that gap and has the steady decline in student enrollments, is that still factoring into the fact that it's difficult to get over the gap? So, Ken and I will handle this, but I'll you know, whatever I don't cover, I'll start off. I think our our struc- structural deficit really began really right after the pandemic, where we had a steep decline both at the community colleges and on the four-year schools. And during that time, we really implemented a very tough hiring freeze across the university to to try to sort of try to stabilize that. Since then, we've uncovered that at least nine of our schools have structural deficit. So, we began to really not use that stringent method, but really to try to create a mechanism to really uh work with them to increase revenues, right? And you could do that through some of the auxiliaries, but also through um we've you know, we've been very fortunate the last couple of years, as I stated in my testimony, we've increased enrollment by about 5.5% over 2 years, uh 3.5 uh this year and and I think that that has helped cut in costs and really making sure that um and working with those colleges very, very closely to really properly uh and I should actually we have we have a really strong partnership with the provost's office, where we're really going in and and really having a whole approach about how class sizes and how we sort of configure them to make sure that we're using all the resources the right way. I don't know if you want to add any. Just you know, that the info that Hector said that the um the enrollment has ticked back up. We are we are marching up that hill, uh you know, not as obviously not at the speed that things came down during the pandemic. So, that that has definitely helped, even though that's uneven. Uh and you know, we've as as he mentioned, we've been uh you know, we implemented CourseDog, which gives us a lot of data on class enrollment. So, we're trying to match your course offerings to a student demand uh rather than having under-enrolled classes and over-enrolled classes. And then the 3.5 increase, as you mentioned, in the 5.5 to almost 13,000 students, is that pre-pandemic levels? And how would it how much would it take to get back there? No, we're not back to the pre-pandemic levels. >> Okay. Do you know what that gap is off the top? If not, you can let me know. About like 3,000-ish. That? Approximately 30,000. Yeah, approximately 30,000. Okay. Um and then also going back to the nine schools you were talking about cuz I I see here that it went from nine to six, which is great. Um so, which were the nine schools and which are the six now that still have that gap? So, you correct me if I'm if I'm wrong. So, uh Queens College, uh York. Sorry, these are the six or the nine? These are the nine. >> Okay, perfect. >> You want to go to the nine or you want to go to just the >> and then which ones, I guess. Okay. So, we have uh Queens College, York. Um uh Medgar Evers. College of Staten Island. City Tech. Kingsborough. Am I missing? Who am I missing? Um Which are the other ones? John Jay. John Jay. Mhm. BMCC. Yeah. BMCC. I think that's that's BMCC? Okay. >> that was the I I think That's eight. We got one missing. Missing one. We'll get you the We'll get you the list, okay? We didn't We didn't have it in front of us. And then I was interested to know um how was it that you were able to get them off the list of the um you know, the financial the schools with the highest financial concerns? Um can you give examples of what you did to decrease I mean, to get them to a better place financially? So um you know, it starts with those schools having upticks in enrollment. We've also worked with them to uh to to decrease costs, looking at where efficiencies could be found, uh whether that's in uh you know, offering matching uh course offerings to to students or or looking at central office efficiency. Um and then we've also worked with them to try to maximize other sources of revenue in addition to fundraising, right? Which obviously always, but but also uh you know, utilizing their assets to uh to get additional revenue. And we we've also done uh as I stated in my testimony, some shared services. We've uh we centralized some of the IT functions. We have uh created uh CUNY Buy, which is a uh a centralized procurement process that has generated a 40-50 million 40 40 to 50% uh discount in um and some of the commodities that we purchased. And now we're in the process of fully implementing a shared services facility management to really try to lean into being a a system and and be more nimble and be able to address some of our challenges connected to the firm maintenance. >> Yeah, I was going to say I've seen how I know that there's, you know, differences of opinions on AI and tech in the usage of it, but this is where I feel like maybe operationally, administratively, we can sort of utilize it to centralize, streamline, be more efficient in that way. And then also maybe train the students to do that one day, too, and build a program. Sorry, that's just my line of thinking. Um okay. And then just going really quickly into headcount and vacancies. So, as of January 2026, there were 47 pedagogical positions and 269 vacancies for non-pedagogical positions. So, what's the current total number of vacancies per campus and what positions are they? I know that's a lot in and of itself. What What do I come back right now and give you the the nine the nine schools since we now have it. Uh and I'll get I'll get to your question. Okay, so uh the nine were Brooklyn, John Jay, New York Tech, Queens, uh College of Staten Island, York, uh SPS, BMCC, and uh and Kings College. Um so, after that uh Brooklyn, John Jay, SPS, and BMCC came off, but Medgar Evers was added. Oh, okay. Okay, yeah, that's always that I always remember this this this is odd uh phenomenon that uh there's one. Now, in terms of vacancies, we don't track vacancies in the way that the city Mhm. tracks vacancies. Um we were down uh about 975 or almost 1,000 uh and uh heads from the the the PEG and the decrease in enrollment, right? Uh when we got the restoration of the PEG, we were able to add about 45 of the heads back. Okay. Sorry, I'm just writing this down. Okay, and and do you do it per campus and how do or track it per campus at all and how do these vacancies impact one campus versus another? And are they impacting provision of services? On on the right on the on the on the community college side, uh we saw decreases at all the colleges with the exception of Guttman between 20 21 and 2025. Um to if you want the exact numbers, but I can give those to you. Uh and then we saw those numbers come down. Uh the impact you know, most of this we have done you know, everything we can to mitigate the impact on students. And don't forget part of the the reduction is driven by a decrease in enrollment. So, we had less demand, too. Okay. And then um what are the challenges that you're facing trying to fill the vacancies? Well, I I think that the issue is you know, having enough revenue to support a larger headcount. Again, you know, we don't we don't have vacancies that are held. It's not We don't have a uh that sort of reporting system that the city has. We decreased uh you know, at at the colleges. Um and you know, part of that is that we wouldn't go back and you know, if the money came back exactly to the levels we were at, we probably wouldn't rehire in exactly those same positions, right? The The The priorities and the needs change over what's now a considerable period of time from 2001. Um And but we look at we look at directing uh the the colleges to provide the services uh with that the students need and and and utilizing the staff they need to do it. Okay. Um And just moving on to the Chief Savings Officers, were you given the same directive with the 1.5% in '26 and the 2.5 in '27? Yes. And And who is the Chief Savings Officer? >> be me. Oh, okay, great. Awesome. More duties. >> [laughter] >> Um Just what I was looking for. Yeah, exactly. Um how how much of or percentage of your time have has been dedicated? I know the reports are due today, but yeah. Uh you know, we spent some time on this. I I >> [laughter] >> Not able to tell you a percentage. >> Okay. Um and how will CUNY ensure that efforts to identify reoccurring recurring savings or operational expense uh efficiencies do not negatively impact, which I think you sort of touched upon, but especially for CUNY Reconnect, ACE, ASAP, um and do you anticipate any consolidation or restructuring of programs as part of the Chief Savings Officers review? We're going to we're going to make sure to to protect student programming. The programs you mentioned have have discrete uh uh programming lines so that they wouldn't be part of the mix. Um but we're going to look for efficiencies where you know, we are expanding and launching uh shared services initiatives, which we think will provide efficiencies, and we're hoping to be able to take care of any needs with that. Okay. >> to give you an example, we we have 100 and I think 178 contracts across the university for construction-related companies that like elevators and So, we That's being reduced to about 70. So, you could imagine the And we're going to be able to service uh more efficiently and be able to lean into to provide better service for our campuses. Those are the kind of things that we believe we could do as a system to be able to save uh money. And is the reduction to 70 because the projects are now complete or your No, no, no. It's It's uh a lot of colleges have So, Baruch will have a elevator contract. Right. Hunter will have a different elevator contract. >> those. So, we're consolidating in China maximize that. Perfect. And actually, that was my last uh question around capital budget cuz I think it includes the preliminary budget includes 44.5 million in fiscal '26 for site acquisition at E73rd Street, which includes 31.1 million that was pushed forward from the out years of the plan. Um why was the funding pushed forward and what is the anticipated completion date? Is this Sparks you're talking about? I don't know the E73rd Street. >> Hole in the ground. The hole in the ground. Our our our I was waiting I would Yeah. So, the the project right now is um we have completely uh decanted from the facilities and um the EDC has um uh construction management company that is you know, uh working on the sort of the cost of phase one, which is our uh our our phase. Um part of that part of that um sort of spark uh project is this MOU that tied in 73rd Street, which is so-called the hole in the ground that's going to go back to the city with the understanding that we get a new facility for uh our School of Nursing for Hunter, uh the School of Public Health, and some additional labs. We're in in communication with the with the administration um to truly try to um get some additional um uh labs in this project that were uh taken out by the previous administration. We We We believe should have been left in there. But the project is on schedule, uh moving along, and we are um We just found a new We We We moved the nursing school to a an uh temporary facility, and our goal is in 3 years to move them back. Okay. And is Memorial Sloan Kettering that's the the cancer Are they the ones that are partnering with you on this or is it you said Hunter School of Nursing? No, it's it's Sloan Kettering uh is connected to the hole in the ground. Yes. >> When when that when that this when they build the new building, CUNY part of the deal was that part of that property will go to a to CUNY. And Are they contributing >> at that time um it would cost about a billion dollars to to to build the nursing school there, and over many years the administration at Hunter tried to get that building built. When we came into office, we kind of looked at things and and tried to figure out a way because we where our nursing school was located was in dire need of repairs, and there's no way that we had the resources to repair it. So, at that time we were presented with an idea connected to Brookdale, and we thought it was a great uh and for the first time we have both the city and the state committing for four-year school. The city funds the two-year schools, the state funds the four-year school, putting in resources of almost a billion dollars to fund what I believe is an exciting uh project for the university. Yeah. But those capital projects can take a while. So, glad to hear that it's on schedule even though there's a big hole in the ground still. [laughter] Um and just lastly for CUNY Beyond, which I know is like a big initiative that you guys are talking about, um how is it that you're assuring that every single student will have a career-connected learning experience? Happy to take that. So, what is so unique about CUNY Beyond and excites me probably most is, you know, currently 25% of students report ever going to a career services office, but 100% of students go to class. And so, we are working with our faculty on a, how do they explain They are the experts. How do they explain that the information they're learning in this class is connected to a real skill they need in the future? How does that comparative literature course teach to the critical thinking skills that you need in any job that you pursue? There is a high correlation between students making understanding and feeling the value of that course towards their career and increased retention. Another place where we're embedding it and and that will ensure every single student in every class has a career-connected um learning opportunity. And we also have academic degree maps. Every program has an academic degree map that tells you which courses you need to take along the way. Now we're embedding career milestones into that same academic degree map so that students aren't only thinking about, what do I need to do in semester one when I'm taking perhaps my gen ed courses? What are those career-connected activities that I should be thinking about? Is it working on my CV? Is it going to this office? And we're integrating academic and career advisement so it's not you have to go to separate places to figure all of this out. And that is one of the key components of CUNY Beyond to assure that every single student throughout their academic experience exposes this. Great. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. so much. Just want to do a real quick follow-up on why is it that you don't track job titles in the CUNY system? Because that's a lot of complaint we get from students that sign up for classes and folks are not there to teach the classes or any other head count. So, it'd be great to hear what's the rationale behind that. Well, that's a That's a different issue. The The you know, assigning folks to to teach classes is done through our our CIRSTOG software. Um what we don't do is we don't have um a a let's say college head count the way the way that the city has agency head counts that are approved. We don't have a head count budget that we that we process. Um and we address the colleges address how they provide the services uh in a semi-autonomous way. Uh And remember, they have a lot of flexibility uh which they achieve by using part-time faculty, but I can uh if you want more information on this, we're happy to continue to discuss it. >> Yeah, we would love to because that's one of the things we hear about even with the OMB in the head count report we're looking at. >> the provost might be able to answer some of the other ones. Yeah, I I I do want to point out that it is a very strategic approach in looking at enrollment. But one thing that we do monitor is student faculty ratio. Um and it went down from a high of 27 to one that we're now at 24 to one because we want that to be uh low. And the percentage um ratio um of full-time and part-time faculty over the last 4 years has remained very consistent. Um so, 39% full-time, 61% uh part-time over the last four year five years. And one of the challenges is as the number of students and majors shifts, the number of faculty demand for certain lines um increases and may decrease in other areas. But um to our CFO's point earlier, stability in revenue for permanent positions requires some stability in enrollment because you need that long-term. We also recognize um the high impact and value of full-time faculty on retention and increased retention. Um but we also want to make sure the student services aren't cut. Um so, we're very strategic. We don't want to be cyclically responding um to positions, and so we're very strategic about where the needs are based off of um, the student needs. Um, you just mentioned ratios are now 24 to 1, but in the FY23, they were 21 to 1. What what happened there? >> Correct. Um, that was a the one year that it went down. It went from 27 to 22 um, and then to to 24. Yeah, and that's overall, and it varies uh, substantially from college to college. Some are lower um, and some are higher um, and um, yeah, class size um, may be an impact as well. But I will say um, the program I'm most excited about in connecting the um, what was talked about earlier is we now have this very advanced AI uh, tool that has predictive analytics called CourseDog, and it's the first time ever we have a system that that connects directly to student degree maps. And so what does that do? It knows how many students are in this Psych 101 course that are psychology majors that are now going to need the second course. And it predicts and tells you based off of historical enrollment what days and times the students need these courses so that we can get out of having to cancel a class for under enrollment or not having sufficient seats for those high demand courses. Um, and that we are um, looking um, real we're very excited about that strategic way of identifying where the highest needs um, for any personnel decision. >> that AI app also help you map out how long a students will stay in your school or how many classes they need when they'll graduate? I hope it says they'll also be employable after they leave the CUNY system as well. >> Beyond I have no doubt. Um, thank you. I'd like to pass it over to Council Member Louis. Thank you, Chair, and good afternoon to you all. Um, I have three questions. All right, the prelim the preliminary plan shows that CUNY's budget is 1.55 billion in FY27 with the majority of funding coming from the city and state sources. But with significant reliance on other categorical uh, external funding streams for programs and research. Given the prevalence of potential federal funding cuts, do you have a breakdown of which specific schools receive the most of federally funded grants and research uh, projects? And is there a bigger hit to undergrad or grad programs with that? I I don't have a an answer to the federal fund per college. We have to get that back to you. >> to you. >> Okay. Um, at last year's preliminary budget hearing, CUNY expressed the need for additional funding to support the Office of Disability Services. The Council then urged the administration to allocate and baseline an additional 2.1 million to allow CUNY to expand uh, the head count at the Disability Services Office by 21. Uh, there was no additional funding to allocated to to CUNY for that purpose, and I wanted to know does CUNY still have a need for additional support for uh, Disability Services Office, and how is CUNY improving access to accommodations and support services for students with disabilities across all campuses? Yeah. I I'm happy to uh, take uh, that question um, and then our CFO can take the budget. Um, uh, the answer is absolutely we need more funding. Um, one of the things that we launched in spring 2025 as I said in my testimony was CUNY Accommodate. This is a very sophisticated tool that we're very excited about. Students, faculty alike we're very happy where students can at a click of a button request um, the accommodations that they need, and it's all automatically, seamlessly done. It we have our goal was to get from the point of requesting an accommodation to receiving it to two weeks, and we hit that target. Um, and as a result of it being so easy um, versus the perhaps a student having to go to an office and feeling uncomfortable and being told to go from one place to another, go to a professor, we've seen a 25% increase in the number of students who now have requested accommodations cuz we've made it so seamless, and we've made it so that it's it's an easy process to facilitate. Um, and we anticipate that this need and the number of students will increase, and this is 25% we're still not done with the academic year because of a very strong partnership with the New York City Public Schools and Local Law 18 um, that uh, really uh, we we're having a lot of wonderful conversations about it's wonderful that we've gotten it down to two weeks, but it's too late if a student requests it when they start the semester. Um, how do we get the students and get that information so we could proactively reach out to students who may need services. And we know in the public schools they have an IEP, which is initiated by a parent. When you're 18, it is up to the student um, to determine whether or not they want services. So how do we work with knowing the students that may need those services and getting that information into our hands so that we can proactively reach out to them at the point at which they're admitted to the school. And so we're revising our data sharing agreement uh, with NYCPS uh, by June um, so that we can get information. And the information the students, and this is why the partnership with NYCPS is so strong, is that those students have to opt in. They have to raise their hand and say um, so anyone who has an IEP, I would like CUNY to reach out to me because I may need services. And by having that information in a data sharing agreement the moment they are admitted to CUNY, that allows us to connect with them automatically so that we can get those services in that two-week window, but well in advance of them starting classes. So just by having an easy, seamless tool, it's increased by 25%. Now when we have direct access to the information of the students coming from the public schools, um, we know that that's going to increase, which is why it's one of our priorities, and we're requesting additional fundings because we know it will increase. Thank you. Yeah. I I we're we're seeking uh, just over two and a half million dollars of additional funding, about 2 million for Accommodate. So um, you know, we need that to to to um, be able to cope with the what we expect to be increasing demand under the new sort of uh, self-identified IEP rules. And um, uh, we we need your your support obviously to secure that funding. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, Council Member Malone. Thank you so much, Chair Joseph. Appreciate the time. Um, I wanted to dig into that and thank you all for being here. Wanted to dig into questions about workforce development as of the Chair of Economic Development, a topic I care a lot about uh, CUNY Beyond launched in October, and as you said in the testimony is looking to expand. And I wanted to get more information around which sectors of the economy you see growing, and how you're thinking um, about where to focus workforce development and training. Well, we are thinking of increasing workforce development um, based on the demands of the city. We have close partners with um, the CEO Jobs Council um, and that strong partnership. And uh, we have data to indicate where are those in demand jobs, and we proactively partner with those industries. Um, but CUNY Beyond it's it's about connecting the student to the career that they want based on demand, but the key I will say is helping students navigate which career do they want um, because the longer it takes a student to figure that out, um, the harder it is academically to piece together the program. And so it starts from the impetus when they first enroll in school. It's that career um, exploration and identifying how do you explore strategically, academically um, to identify what are the careers that you want, and embedding the career connected learning into every single course, and the experiences between internships and apprenticeships, which we we know if a student um, nationwide if they experience a paid internship experience, they're two times more likely to end up in a job connected to their choice. At CUNY, it's three times more likely. And so that preliminary data shows us that this is where we need to concentrate. It also helps students navigate is this the right career path for me? So embedding this as early as possible throughout every experience and connecting them to those high demand um, fields. Very impressive. With the economy so rapidly changing, in particular AI, I'm curious how you're thinking about AI proficiency and literacy and career connectivity. Absolutely. Um, so within AI, um, the first thing I'll highlight is that we are hiring um, thanks to a very large uh, philanthropic uh, gift to the Graduate Center um, AI faculty experts throughout all of our schools um, and so that is underway. We've partnered uh, recently with uh, Google and procured a platform that will enable the researchers to have the tools that they want, but it also has access to a breadth of learning tools so that faculty can create um whether it's a AI tutor for their courses connecting it to information about which courses should I be taking which ones are open all of that at their fingertips and AI literacy is at the foundation of all of that. The faculty organically have come together they've created a group called Don AI alone um and the demand is there. We put out an RFP recently um request for proposal from faculty um awarding them some funding to say do you want to explore connecting AI into your curriculum. We also have a pilot program to do the same thing within gen ed courses to ensure that students are exposed to how to use it responsibly ethically but also training our faculty on how can they use it to help increase learning outcomes in those courses that may have high failure rates and so it is throughout everything that we're doing. We want to ensure all students graduate with some level of AI literacy and exposure and that our faculty and our staff feel well prepared to use these um within safe ethical ways right because it's challenging it's changing every single day um but we are working hard to to support it throughout every aspect of the curriculum. You're on the case. Thank you. Um what other you mentioned 3x after so is after you go through a paid internship program 3x more likely to Three times more likely to end up in a career um than if you don't experience a paid internship. >> any other data on number of placements and internships and ultimately job placements Um >> from this program? So I do have um in um before the program uh was launched about 6,800 undergraduates uh reporting having uh a paid internship and that that has already increased to 7,700 numbers so over 14,567. Our goal is 30% of all of our students having a paid uh internship or apprenticeship experience. In my last 8 seconds I wanted to ask about early childhood education which is a top priority and uh if there are investments in training and um retaining educators for that particular sector. Yes. Um we work very closely um with um our partners at NYCPS um on a lot of initiatives um to promote teacher education and ensure that we're meeting the high demands. Um we have a partnership where uh paraprofessionals currently working in NYCPS can receive credentialing and seamless pipeline into CUNY uh to build upon whatever college credit they already have in order to meet that teacher shortage. We also have our New York City um teaching fellows which tripled um to over 536 I I already said the number but I'm sorry if I got it wrong. Um so that's 55% of all New York City teaching fellows that are embedded in classrooms um as they are uh working towards their teacher education certification as well. Thank you very much and thank you chair. Thank you so much. Um next person Council Member Drommowitz. Thank you chair. Good afternoon. Good to see you all. Uh really loved hearing about that local law 18. It's a good one. >> I I wonder why. I wonder what For those who are unacquainted it's my bill and I'm really [laughter] pleased about the progress that's being made about that digital transference of of data. I want to clarify uh just one thing that you said uh about opting in and opting out. To be clear the the goal was to make sure >> you're right you're right. The partners at NYCPS did say it was going to be opt in out not opt in. >> okay yes cuz that was one of the big Correct. You're right. I forgot they said that. You are right. >> We were having a lot of issues with the opt in and the training and so just having it opt out means a lot more students are going to be able to get that phone call right from CUNY get that email Absolutely. I'm really very pleased with the progress that's being that's being made there. >> working on that language to ensure it's clear what it is that they're yes opting out of. Perfect and I think a lot more you're going to see a lot more students graduating graduating on time exactly what you said getting those accommodations early on instead of waiting a semester or two semesters which is what we were seeing before. Um I want to ask about two elements of uh constructive dialogue and everyone getting along at CUNY. Uh the first is the constructive dialogue initiative. Can you talk briefly about that and the measurable impact that it has or has not had on uh the student interactions at CUNY? Yes. Uh so our partnership with constructive dialogue is really about a true cultural shift um throughout the system. We know that um there are skills necessary in order to facilitate um difficult conversations and when we are really promoting critical thinking and thought um it is natural to sometimes feel a little uncomfortable but there it's about skill building. How do you navigate and what are the skills necessary to navigate those difficult conversations? Um there and we have two various uh curriculums um perspectives is the one uh that I'll say is open to all CUNY students all CUNY faculty and it is a few hours long um where it's skill building and just exploring and understanding basic skills on having these conversations. The students that have already gone through it 92% already said that they're applying those skills to the way in which they communicate with others. We the faculty 88% reported that they feel much more comfortable um in order to navigate some of those complicated skills. We have a leadership uh programming where all the college leaderships at the highest level have undergone that that programming and we're embedding experts into every single college so that there every college will have a resource of experienced facilitators students staff faculty and that is the most intensive level of training. Um I will say anecdotally um recently there was a college that reached out proactively and we the support from CDI is a proactive approach where they reached out they said we're going to have an event and we want to make sure we have the skills necessary cuz potentially it could be very complicated. And we partnered with CDI the students and staff facilitators um went through the training and they reported back it was a wonderful event and they said we found ourselves literally thinking about the training and using the skill sets because some of the conversations were complicated and it was uh wonderful so we are going to share that. >> the measurable impact is is student survey student feedback data. >> And faculty as well and staff. >> there is that element of uh proactive stuff making sure people have the skills. There is also the reality that things happen people need to report things. Um and as you know um the the reporting portal for acts of bias has gone through two iterations now uh first started in 2022 and then after the women commissioner report and the hearing of this commission of this uh committee uh put in RFP for the second portal. I want to confirm the second portal is online. Yes. Um one of the things that was testified to by the chancellor um on November 25th of 2024 I guess when we had the hearing uh was that the reporting the data would be public that he committed to uh reporting out to the public um you know how many reports have been and and some of the results and I'm happy to I'm happy to to to read it to you but it's uh you'll have the ability to share he says yes. So 100% will be on the website he goes yep. That was the transcript. So I have had trouble finding on the website. Can you talk more about whether or not it's this data is yet public? If it is not yet public why it is not public yet and can you make it public as was committed to over a year ago? Yes. Uh I can answer that. October is when uh we will be making uh the report public. Um one of the challenges is when anyone files uh a complaint in the portal to make it public immediately we we owe it to ourselves to offer accurate data. Sometimes a student reports that they're unhappy with a grade and they're using the portal to report something that isn't actually what the portal is for. It is to file any instance where someone feels that there's been a violation of a policy. Um and so that the numbers and uh that are first entered are not 100% accurate. The the CDOs and the campuses work to review every single complaint to ensure and so once that validation period goes through um by October we will have gone through that uh validation process and we can have conversations about the frequency with which we make the data public um understanding that there will be uh a lapse in time between uh initial reporting and instances and the public data. Your chancellor thinks that uh quarterly reports seems quote extremely reasonable. Uh so quarterly reports understanding he he he said it not me. But that uh but that's what we're looking for because again a lot of the again the other end not not the constructive from the bottom up but from the top down knowing that things are being handled is a real source of uh frustration and anxiety for students who feel like nothing's being done. And this is one of the methods that I think is going to help CUNY and a lot of the students. And so if if if we can look forward to the commitment, can we look forward to what the Chancellor committed to quarterly reports on on the acts of bias? Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And and one thing I want to add with the portal is it allows for that communication because you it's a valid concern. You report something and there's nothingness. With this portal, it allows for that communication, verification that it's been submitted every step of the way. Someone who reported something will be kept in the loop so that they know that action is being taken. And so that that is something the portal that it does allow us to do. And then it includes after they submit the report, right? Like here's where it is. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Um I'd like to recognize Councilmember Wong and Councilmember Brewer. Thank Okay. Thank you very much. And I do want to thank John Jay because on Monday night, March 23rd, we're having our town hall meeting there. And I appreciate their support. Um have you lost a lot of international students and with funding? Is that been something that's on your radar or I was just curious cuz they do bring in some funding. Yes, they do. And I have those numbers right here. So international students, we actually have had an increase since 2024. However, we do anticipate now that there will be more of a challenge because of certain countries and the visas being much more difficult to obtain. And so we are preparing ourselves for that. But fortunately for this year, we we saw an increase in in the total number of international students. Yes, thank you. Um and then I know that you and the state CUNY Chancellor worked to get the high schools, not just the great work that Councilmember Dinowitz did, but just generally more high school students applying. What Maybe you did this earlier. I tried to listen on my way down from another meeting. But did you have a big increase because of the efforts? We had a press conference. We did a lot of work to get high school students to apply. Did that work or it did work on CUNY? I don't I have the enrollment numbers, but I'm not quite sure the percentage from uh public schools versus um all total enrollment. >> was very excited about that program. >> up with you on that. Yes, we did see the number of applications because of a free application period >> Correct. substantially um increased. >> know how that translated into actual students. >> I would need to get the numbers for you. >> All right, that would be helpful. Um food policy, that was always an issue. Is that still something that I mean insecurity? And so is that something that you're allocating funding toward? I know you have in the past. Yes, absolutely. >> much or Yes, I can revisit those numbers. Um Sorry about that. It's okay. That's okay. Um so we receive from the city is $880,000 allocation, but each of the colleges right some of them receive grants for funds and there's a lot of philanthropic partners that also provide. So I don't have the breakdown of what each college receives. We only have the information that we centrally allocate to the campuses, which is the $880,000. Um And so as a result of some campuses having more access to resources, they have more food available, extended hours than others. So there is a level of inequity for food access across the colleges because we are limited in what we can do with the amount that we receive centrally. But we work with the colleges and philanthropic partners. >> that you're meeting the need or you obviously need more money? That's what you're saying. I would say it's a big issue. >> It absolutely is. All right, so did you Are you giving us some idea how much more you would need? Is that something that's on your list? We'll hand that over to our CFO. We can get back to you with a specific ask on on that. >> Okay. I mean I I Thank you. All right, then of course Gutman, my usual question. So they need space. We have the North building. There's a question here that says Center for Urban Futures. They're always saying, you know, CUNY has space. We should build low-income housing and then CUNY below. So what's with the North building? My annual question and it's >> I know. I love that annual exchange. >> Yes. The building is still there. Gutman still needs space and we need affordable housing. Got it. So when it comes to Gutman, we are obviously in the process of trying to identify space for them. We have a We're working with the current landlord to give us some time to to really figure out what is next for for Gutman in terms of space. Right now we feel confident that we're going to be able to secure the space that they need to continue to run that school. With regards to um >> Well, they still need to move at some point and get more space cuz you're renting in other locations so that they can have more classes. >> sure that we're in agreement on that. But I will say >> on that. I'm not sure that we're in agreement with that. I think that right now we believe that they have the school that the the space that they need in order to be able to do the work that they're they're doing there. With with regards to North Hall, Yes. we are obviously trying to figure out um what what's going to happen with that particular site. That is one of the reasons why we're extending the lease for Gutman. Uh and as you know, there's an ongoing ongoing suit that we can't really comment on. Um Your other question was >> Well, there was Gutman and North Hall. So it's the same story. Gutman you think is fine and the North Hall sits there empty. And when it comes to the to the organization that printed a report, they never consulted with us. So we really I'm not we haven't really no comment on that particular report. I'm going to follow up on North Hall then. And then just finally, I had thought that at one point we were trying to have all CUNY students graduate with some kind of a I don't know what you call it, a tech certificate of some kind. Is that when you graduate with knowledge and AI and that wonderful program, do you graduate with any you know, certificates or just in your course selection? I would just you know, something specific sometimes helps people get jobs. That's why I'm asking. Yeah, we're we're having conversations about exactly that and talking to the faculty. And we're currently piloting where faculty in courses with multiple sections, so very large courses within general education, embedding AI use and technology into those courses, so that skill set. And we're undergoing some conversations. What does that look like if we expand this and this is something that What is a designation? So we're having those conversations about is it a separate credential? Is it a particular designation per per course? And so the we're very in the early stages of having those conversations. >> Okay, credentials matter. So that would be something that you would So you would consider doing that. >> Yes, and we partnered with Google. So all students actually have access to their Google AI Essentials and they earn a certificate for that and that's open to all students. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Brewer. Is is AI also will be embedded in your teacher preparation program as students are running circles around teachers because they don't know. That is absolutely part of the conversation as well. And you will appreciate that I was attending I have a an eighth grader. We were attending high schools. And one of the questions I ask is how you know, AI thinking exactly that we need to prepare our teachers for AI. And so that is absolutely part of the conversation for educators across across all levels, the teacher preparation as well as within higher education as well. >> Absolutely cuz I'm also thinking on the intervention side, that could be AI can be such a great tool for teachers with our English language learners along with our students with special needs. So Exactly. Um thank you for that. Mr. Wong, I know you Councilmember Wong, I know you have a question, right? How are you? Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair. Um I really have two questions. One regarding the adjunct faculties of CUNY. And then two back to the IEP systems. And if I have any time left, I want to ask about the Bronx Community College. First question is I I met quite a few of my constituents that are actually adjunct faculties of CUNY. And and and they teach in the evenings. And and I'm sure for for a lot of college students that work in the daytime, attending classes at night is like their only option. So adjunct faculties can be very important to to the system. And but and they they have not They what they told me that they don't have a very good experience with CUNY like demanding hours to like pay. So, I sense that well, here's my question. What is the attrition rate for these adjunct faculties and then is there something you consider in like improving their working conditions or pay pay hours and and so forth. Can you talk about that? Well, I mean I don't know what I would love to know more about what you're what you're referring to with regards to working conditions. I mean they are you know, we we're we're bound by a by a contract and that contract sets the the pattern and and and what increase faculty gets and ultimately every every faculty member will get the those increase and over the period of time. So, that's the first thing. Second as as the provost alluded we we we manage the university with with a good amount of of adjuncts. Those adjuncts are um provided they they apply for the kind of courses they want to be involved in and they work with with the with the colleges to to to get into those particular classes. I would love to know more what conditions that you're referring to because they're they get treated like every other faculty whether full-time or part-time or every other employee. So, I'm not really sure what you're referring to. After the hearing we can get in touch and talk about specifics. Thank you. Then my next question is students with IEPs. Back to that topic. Um um We have we have a lot of District 75 schools in the city and there are quite a few in my district. So, where where kids graduate with IEPs they many of them end up in CUNY schools. Um I unfortunately I wasn't I wasn't next door. I wasn't able to hear your your your whole testimony, but um is it a matter of course that CUNY have access or the students must sign papers for for CUNY to to access their IEPs? Thanks to local law 18 that we referenced earlier which now requires that there's a partnership between NYCPS and CUNY. We have been working with them on how do we access that information? An IEP is initiated by a parent and the services that a student receives in NYCPS does not mimic those that are offered at at higher education institutions. Some may be overlap, but some like being assigned a paraprofessional is not something that we do in higher education. So, there and the students once they turn 18 they themselves must initiate the request cuz there are some students who don't want to seek that that the services. So, what we've done is twofold. One, we first launched a system called CUNY Accommodate which makes it very easy for students to click a button, upload, receive whatever information is necessary request services and with we within 2 weeks of receiving that request for accommodations we're able to grant that accommodation, but we've now been in conversations with NYCPS on it's wonderful that a student can request this, but if they request it once they start classes it's not very useful. So, how do we know from the moment they get admitted to CUNY and that's where the data sharing agreement that we're working on we're revising it by June where students in NYCPS the seniors who are graduating and applied to CUNY they will receive messaging that ask them that your the fact that you have an IEP will be shared with CUNY in order to proactively reach out to you to see if you want accommodations or do you want to opt out. It's the student's decision whether or not they want that information shared and then the data sharing agreement will receive all the information from every student who's been admitted to CUNY from NYCPS that would like accommodations and then we could proactively reach out to them at the point at which they're registering for courses so that the accommodations will be in place before the first day of class. Yeah, I can be really specific like students with the that needs speech therapy and they expected that in high school, but once they're in college like they don't even know where to go. Like as from what I know that there may be CUNY sites in which they don't offer speech therapy. So, that can be very frustrating for for for that transition. They can be very stressful to the students. >> Absolutely. The first point is making it easy for them to even find out how they can gain any access and that's what CUNY CUNY Accommodate allows. Okay, thank you. Do I have time for another question or um my time? But really Right. Um um I visited the Bronx Community College. This came into my mind because I saw the mug over here. Yeah. The Gould Memorial Library is is is a landmark is a gem, but when I visited there it's uh uh it's not exactly in very good condition. So, is is this being well kept? Is it being renovated? Can you talk about it? I have to get back to you on that particular on that library, but uh you know, um I could find that and talk to you offline if you like because I have it here and be able to give you some more >> thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Thank you. I have a quick question. I know we offer New York City public school high school students admission pre-admissions application. They get they get accepted into the CUNY system. Is there any part of that application that does ask if you are a student in New York City public schools do you currently have an IEP? Is that question being asked? It's not being asked. Yeah, we um that has been we've had a lot of conversations about that and the concern is the student perspective of fearing that that might influence and impact a decision on being admitted. And so, asking at it at that point in time best practice shows that that's not the right time to be asking for the fear that that might influence and impact regardless of what we say on the application that it will not impact a decision. Um best practices show that that's not the right time to ask. >> Only because New York City public schools is the handoff to you. Similar to early intervention. So, just follows the students into every single and then there's a handoff to New York City public schools. I was just thinking. Yeah, no me too. I thought the same thing when I first started I thought why not? And then I realized that makes a little sense. I agree. Council Member Brewer has a follow-up. I'll be quick. So, just in terms of the nursing school. The nursing school from Hunter is supposed to go over to New Athens already? Oh, the nursing school was supposed to go from Hunter to this whenever this campus 2.5 acres is built. I guess right now they're on 68th Street and some of that is at the grad center. Is that space going to exist for the nursing school at the new site Brookdale and is it going to be large enough etc.? Yeah, so that the nursing school is not it's not at either one of those places. We found that um CUNY acquired a new facility at 40 Rector Street. So, they we actually have we took over an assistant um a facility that was that had a school there. So, we didn't have to do a lot of renovation. So, actually I the space is actually beautiful. The new space that we we we were able to build for them. Um when all those when all those uses when Brookdale is completed not only is the nursing school going to be able to go there, physical therapy is going to be able to go there and some of the other uses that we move and then we've allowed Hunter to have some additional space for future program. So, that's the way that those that space was was built and then the space at the at the graduate center was built with with the purpose of either having the graduate center use it or Hunter continuing to use it. So, we think that the plan you know, really is going to allow us to have even additional space for for the university. All right, thank you. Thank you, Council Member Brewer. Next question will CUNY partner with New York City public schools on College Now which is a free program transition dual enrollment program. How does the program operate? How many students are enrolled in College Now in 2025 to 2026? Has the numbers of enrollees increasing or decreasing recent years? What is the trend? I can answer that. So, for College Now we have nearly 31,000 students are enrolled in College Now. We have been expanding between College Now and New York Future Ready. We have been on an increasing trend every single year and we work in partnership with NYCPS to set that goal and it's always an increasing goal and expanding and we've continued to expand that. One of one of my favorite programs. What is the budget for the program for fiscal 2026 and 2027? College Now. College Now. Good. So, The current budget uh 17.9 million. Our expectation is that we would continue at that level. To continue at that level. Um [snorts] according to the CUNY website, 592 high schools participated in 2024 to 2025. How do high schools opt in to participate and what is the process? I would have to get back to you. I actually that is the partnership with NYCPS and I don't I don't know the process itself that takes place. >> And how do they how do they choose? Monday I'll ask them. >> [laughter] >> Have there been any high school want to participate but unable due to capacity or limited resources? Not that I am aware of and I will confirm that for you. Thank you. Um New York City's partners with early college which also support high schools that are committed to early college program, college readiness outcome for traditionally underrepresented students in higher education. Early college allows high school students to earn an associate degree or up to two years of college credit at no cost. The program is available for students grade 6 to 14. Can you explain the different options available to students based on their grade? I do not know that level of detail. Was prepared to tell you enrollment and how many were P-Tech schools. You can tell me well I'm going to come to P-Tech schools cuz that's another one of my favorite but I just wish more people knew about early college programs and college now and P-Tech. >> Absolutely. >> You would save so much money as well leaving high school with a high school associate degree debt free. In academic year 25, there were over 3800 students enrolled in early college and 13686 were P-Tech so receiving college credit. And so one program under college now is NYC P-Tech school which which offer a carefully integrated STEM curriculum over the course of six years. I know you also have a nursing staff nursing track. You have a phlebotomy track. You have a EMT track. Tell us about that. I don't have the details about all of the the programs. I have the list of the schools but not description of all of the academic programs but to your earlier point, they are fantastic opportunities. I had the privilege of visiting one of the schools and could not believe the labs and the simulators available, what the high school students are doing are absolutely our college level ready and I'm happy that we've partnered with them so that they can receive the credit that they deserve. And can you talk to us about um the programs involve each school partnering with um potential employee partners cuz they do I know they also partner for example E-Camp who I'm a huge fan. They partner with Northwell. Yes and so I don't know the details of all of our partners but I know that that's a core part of the success of these programs is to be able to prepare those students directly into jobs and assist with that job placement. So what's the budget for P-Tech in 2026 and 2027? I do not have it broken out P-Tech the uh the early college initiative in total is 3.2 million. Mhm. And I believe that we're we're also still holding that the same level next year. And P-Tech you don't have you'll get that number. >> broken out so we'll we'll definitely get you that. >> broken out from that overall number. >> Yep. Okay, that would be great. Um and do you know how many students are currently um enrolled in P-Tech? Uh yes, 1,386. Is there a plan to expand? Uh always. And how much would that cost us? And how much would that cost [laughter] us? How much we expanding? Good. Okay. Um CUNY Prep offers a full-time program for students age 16 to 19 which they take core classes, math, science, writing, social studies working to earn their high school equivalency diploma. What is the budget for CUNY Prep in a fiscal 2026 and 2027? CUNY Prep the budget is 2.4 million. Do you know where they're located um in in the city? I do not. Can you tell me the college campuses you have them on? But the provost might know that. I don't know the colleges. I know that there's 215 students currently enrolled in the program this year. And I can get back to you with the list of the schools. >> Yeah, that would be great. >> Apparently White Plains Road in the Bronx. >> Huh? Apparently it's it's in the Bronx on White Plains Road. That's it? And do we plan to expand anywhere? I do not know that we have. >> going to need money, right? I know. That's your favorite subject. >> [laughter] >> Um and in 2026, how many students did you support in with the budget in 2026? Uh 215. Okay. It it should be expanded. Looks like a good program. It'll reminds me of another program they have in New York City public schools. Um what aspect of CUNY Prep encourage students to who have dropped out of school to return? I'm sorry, I didn't get that. >> What what what aspect what encouragement does it provide when students drop out? You know life happens and they drop out of school. What kind what what do you do to bring them back? What supports do you provide? Yeah, we we provide um a lot of hands-on comfort and support and assurance because often times it just feels like this overwhelming thing and and we know the process is complicated from filling out forms and applications and we assist students throughout every step of the way and really connect them to all of the resources that we have available from child care and food insecurities. I mean we try and connect them and then through CUNY Cares any we listen what are their supports and we have so many programs making sure we connect them versus telling them it's up to you on your own making sure that we provide that academic support as well as that mental health support and assurance as well. >> Is there any financial support as well? I would have to get back to you on that. >> Okay. Thank you. Um how do you advertise that program? How do people know about CUNY Prep? Well, we have a marketing available for that and in partnership with local community-based organizations as well and always with our partnership with NYCPS. Um does CUNY offer any pathway any offer any pathways for students enrolled in CUNY Prep to enter CUNY college once they're done? Absolutely. We connect that throughout the process to assure them that there's a seamless level of support and at the the handoff is seamless because we want to make sure we're providing you support every step of the way and so that it feels seamless and once a student gains that momentum we don't want them to lose that and and there's always a path throughout CUNY for them. Thank you. Um um head counts. Um I'm going to go back to head count real quick. One area of concern that we have heard about is the number of adjunct professors at CUNY. How many adjuncts versus tenured professors do you currently employ? I mean I have the ratio but Yeah, um we have you want the numbers, right? >> Yes, sir. Uh the full-time uh faculty about 7150 and um the the the part-time faculty 11,250. How do we compare them um to by campuses? I can see if I have campus data. Hold on. Is that is that it right here? Yeah, this is this is the Let's see if we've got I can give you the full-time by campus. I don't think I have the I'm not sure if I Oh no, I do. I have both. Okay. So do you want the the full-time to the adjuncts? Give us the tenured and then you can give us the adjuncts. Thank you. Okay. So the the full-time you want each every every one of the colleges? I mean it's fine. I can read the long list. You can send it over to us. >> Perfect. >> send it over to us but we just wanted to know what was the comparison what's the difference vary per campus. What's the difference? Yeah, I don't I don't I don't have a table so we'll have to we'll get that out to you. >> you. You'll get that to us. Do certain tend to have more adjunct professors than others? What was the question? Do Do certain fields have adjuncts more than tenured professors? >> Uh it depends campus to campus and based off of department and so it varies substantially so the answer is yes. What's the most popular field that has more adjuncts? Anything I say would be a guess based off of the largest major but so I'd rather get you accurate information. What's the number one major at CUNY? Um it's always neck and neck between psychology and computer science. Is that where most of our adjuncts live or you don't know? I don't know. I'd have to get you that. Okay. Um what is the payment rate for adjunct professors versus tenured professors? I mean it that it varies a lot by years of service and there's a there's a whole table but but you know we can always send you the the appropriate pages from the PSC agreement, but you know, there are there are assistant professors and associate professors and full professors and instructors and lecturers. So, there's a you know, and and then adjuncts. So, there's a lot of different salaries. They're all on a a grid, you know, right? So um we we can supply that to you. What's the entry level for for example, New York City public schools if you would be coming a teacher with a bachelor's playing 55,000? What's the What's the entry level for There's no entry level? Um it depends on their credentials. So, if they're have a PhD, that would be a doctoral rate. But the the rates are listed on the PSC. And one thing that I I want to highlight is how much they get paid depends on the course. So, if it's a three credit three contact hour course. So, it's based off of the contact hours. So, if it's a course like a lab course, it might be six contact hours, then it would be counting. Um and there's a limit to how many contact hours an adjunct can work. But it So, there's no set entry level. It depends on the course on their credentials and yeah. Absolutely. >> But you know, one thing is we're we're very proud of this latest contract that we did with the PSC. I mean, we since this since this Chancellor came on board we double the the what adjuncts get paid in terms of So, we're very proud. We were very close as what are with the union. And the Chancellor, this is one of the areas that he was really focused on. But we'll get you those numbers. But it has been a tremendous increase in terms of The committee would love to see the these numbers. Thank you. We talked about this earlier, but I just want to um Academic advisors are very important to student success. The the committee here at last year's preliminary budget hearing about CUNY's needs for advisors. How many academic advisors does CUNY currently employ? We currently have 611. Does students continue with the same advisor over the entire college career? That depends on the college. Some have that structure, others do not. Some it's the first two years and then the last two years. At the four year schools might be with the faculty member. The structure varies from college to college. What do each advisor do to students? How do they reach out to them? Well, we have a system called navigate 360 and it allows for texting, it allows for emails, that proactive outreach and those are the most common ways in which the advisors would be in touch with students. For advisors not advising programs such as CUNY We Connect or ASAP, which have dedicated advisors, how many students in the average advisors overseeing? The university advisor ratio is 1 to 281 overall across the entire system and that varies a little bit between the four year schools and the two year schools. And the industry standard is 1 to 300. And so, the senior colleges it's higher. So, we're not at industry standards, but at the community colleges we are because at the senior college average is 1 to 378 and the community college is is 1 to 217 and the industry standard is 1 to 300. That's a lot. Sometimes a student never gets to see an advisor. How does lowering the advisor student ratio impact student success? Well, as if ASAP and ACE and our SEEK programs are any indication, that connection with the advisors is absolutely critical and providing I also say what's critical is providing the support for advisors, ensuring that they have easy access to information so that they can support those students and that is something that we've worked on with Navigate now has reports that will show if a student is registered for a a class that falls out of financial aid, proactively reaching out to the student. So, it's about the critical information that the advisors are able to connect those students. So, those connections are really critical and in ASAP and ACE it's a requirement that the student come to an advisor whereas in the general population, some colleges do require that for registration, but others do not and we know that the students that come to an advisor and seek that advice, it's a much stronger likelihood of retention. Yeah okay. In the CUNY fiscal 2027 budget request include 15.2 million in city funding for academic and career advisement, 3.7 million of that being to hire diverse academic career advisors. If allocated, how would this funding impact the number advisors that could be hired? It would significantly impact the number that we can hire and really is the key to success. We know that providing that level of support and in in CUNY beyond, as I mentioned earlier, that connection between it's not just academic advisement or career advisement. It really needs to be both because it's not just about student progression to a degree, it's also about student progression to a degree to a career and hence uh our our ask. Um thank you. A funding of 710,000 710,000 is CUNY contract budget in fiscal 2027 is dedicated to daycare service for children? Is there a question? >> [laughter] >> Oh, 710 710,000 is CUNY contract is CUNY contract budget in fiscal 2027 is dedicated for daycare services for children? No daycare? Yes, we have the daycare centers in Yeah, I'm not quite sure about the budget. Yeah. So, what's the You're not sure of the budget? What's the budget? You want to know what the budget is? You want to know Yeah. We want to confirm and we want to know the budget and we want to know how many slots are funded with that money. >> Yeah, we'll we'll get back to you on that. I mean, I think we could give you the slots. Correct. >> Okay, give me the slots. You'll get back to me on the budgeting. How many slots? Is there a wait list? Yes. So, we have a licensed capacity for 1,389. That varies between infant, toddler, preschool and school age. I will tell you the cost per child. So, it's 2,000 for an infant and toddler seat. Um if based off of the budget and the personnel necessary. Preschool is 1,500 and school age it's 1,000 and we have a total of 17 centers that serve from three months to 12 years of age and they're open approximately 7:30 to 6:00 p.m. Some as late as 9:30 p.m. And so, the funding and additional funding would allow for We do have in some child care centers there is a wait list, but it's dependent on the slot. So, if they want more infants and there's too much of a demand for infant, we might have a slot for 12 year old, but it's the infant ones that cost more or it might be the extended hours that are necessary. And so, that that is really where the additional funding could be supportive because it depends on the age of the child and we do have a much higher need for infant and toddler seats than preschool and once there's the three K and the four K that alleviates some of that, but then increases the demand for the three month old. Sometimes it's seat types that that are in demand. Do you do an assessment on the seat types and then how quickly do you change that around if you have to? Um well, we do assess all the time and it's not as easy to A get the increased funding necessary and finding the staff with the credentials for the youngest age. The the total budget for the university for child care is 6.7 million. About 2.4 is at the community colleges. Um What Oh, you already talked about the seats and you talked about the resources and how you And sometimes it's the contract. Some some folks don't realize you cannot change the contract. You're contracted for two year olds, you can't change the contract because there's certain requirements. Correct. I get it. I get it. I get it. One of CUNY's budget request for 2027 is 200 million in additional funding annually split between the city and the state but a state of good repair. How was that amount determined? So, about two years ago, our vice chancellor for facility management did what we call a facility assessment. And that really determined for us what And it was really all prompted by, you know, a couple of years ago we had an issue with one of our schools where the boiler went out and we really weren't aware and it just it created some tremendous challenges. So, the chancellor charged us with, you know, sort of figuring that out. I I now know we now know every system and we have about 27,640 systems throughout CUNY in our 300 plus buildings, 30 million square feet. But we know we can now do an intervention and on buildings where we know that like for argument's sake, Baruch building number two, boiler number five is going to go out next year. We're able to now allocate resources to that. So, that's one way of allocating resources. Obviously, there's also conversations that takes place with the college president. When the chancellor came on board, he also charged us with there were a lot of projects that have been in the books for a very long time. He hired a lot of new presidents, you know, it's just turned over and we wanted to make sure that the projects that we had in the books were the priorities of those new presidents. So, we went through an exercise of really looking at those projects and really reducing that booklet to be able to be uh more targeted. But then really the most important thing is we really in in the chancellor and the university strategic plan, we really focus on the state of good repair. We did an analysis and through that two-year analysis determined that 23% of our facilities were in the state of good repair. So, we really am proud to say that over a couple of years we're now up to 33%. So, we're using those resources in a very targeted basis. The challenge for us has always been that on the state side we've done very, very well and the city side we haven't done well. Uh I'm encouraged by the new administration and some of the conversations we've had. But frankly, we have projects that are in the books and then we get a call and those projects get pushed out to outer years. So, that creates a real challenge. So, this is why that this urgency of us getting capital dollars for our community colleges. We're starting to see the deterioration. I think the council member in his earlier question was connected to that. It's one of our community college. So, our community college is really struggling. Uh but we have a real um and the other thing that I'm really very proud of is that the other thing that when we took over, our completion rates were very low. I'm happy to report we took our completion rates from around 29% to where it's 60 something percent. For the first time we bought over $538 million worth of projects over a 10-year capital plan. So, that shows that we're doing we're doing a lot more. We're also doing a lot of projects in internally. You know, we relied a lot on DDC. So, I wanted to change that narrative because, you know, some of our and give them some more complicated projects. But we're doing a lot of more projects in-house, which is really creating the ability for us to complete projects within in time and on schedule, which is really very important. But we need the funding and that's why it's so critical. We get that. That's the theme today. Um what's when you looked at your book and you did an assessment, what was the oldest project you found in the book? Uh going back to probably I remember probably in one particular case it's three presidents ago, right? A project that you know, so we cleaned all that up, right? Um and frankly, there's some of those projects were never going to get funded, but they just were there for So, the chancellor wanted to make sure that we really had a a plan that reflected his president's uh priorities and so we really focused on on on doing that. >> [snorts] >> How do you collect information and track the need for maintenance and repair by campuses? If If yes, please share how you track them and how you make them a How you prioritize which projects get done first? >> year you'll be able to ask me that question. I'll be able to give you even more information. We're as right now we're going through an exercise of um taking all our facilities um and really creating a shared services where um all the trades will be reporting to a four four hubs uh sort of system-wide and those hubs are going to be going to be sort of targeted to one one hub is going to be in Queens, one one that's going to service Brooklyn and Staten Island, another one that's going to service the Bronx and one school in Manhattan and the other one's going to service Manhattan. And I think what what really is good about that we have over 700 plus trades and we never leaned into being a system. So, colleges will have uh regular maintenance that they had to do and then they had an emergency, but they only had limited personnel. And so now they had to move this personnel from the regular maintenance to do deal with the emergency. The beauty of this new system is we're going to be able to do that maintenance, but also have an emergency crew if we have an emergency to be able to address that and we're actually hiring more people to try to make sure that as a system we're able to target that and we're going to have we have something called Omnibus, which is a uh Archibus, which is a system that's going to allow us to to your point at the campus they're going to be able to put in what repairs they want. We're going to be able to track it. They're going to get a service. They're going to know when the when the van is going out to service them and they're going to know when the when it's going to be repairs. So, I'll be able to provide you a lot of that data because it's a new system that we're we're bringing on board and we're we're launching this probably over the next month, month and a half system-wide. Cuz we hear from students and um faculty that in certain campuses when it rains outside it rains inside as well. Weird. >> So, we want to make sure that you're prioritizing the spaces. Um we want to make sure that the maintenance repairs are highly prioritized based on urgent need and safety of our students as we know that some colleges are overdue for capital project funding. If CUNY were allocated the funding, how would you prioritize which campus or project to start um in the first year? I mean, right now we have uh about 672 active projects system-wide. Um I'm happy to report across all campuses they have for as as low as nine or 908 projects in each of those campus totaling four or five million to as much as 21 projects totaling over $359 million. By the way, council member, that's at the Bronx Community College who have 21 active projects totaling $359 million and one of the projects is the one you you referred to. So, I was able to find that that information. So, we try to sort of distribute the funding across all the systems, but we really are targeting areas where we think that if we don't have an intervention at that moment in time, we're going to have a problem a little later with no heat or whatever those issues are. So, we're trying to be very strategic on how those how those resources are are allocated. Um can you also share with us if you have it now, if not email it to us, um the current list of college campuses that are in dire need for capital funding? Um why don't I get you that because I think that we should talk about what that that sort of definition is and how we we we arrive at So, I'll send you some information on that. >> And what is the timeline when you start a project from from beginning to end? Well, I'm happy Like I said earlier, I'm happy to report that we we we brought down It used to take us over uh three three years and a half to complete a project. We're now down to two years completing a project. The challenge is for us in the community college is that we have a project that's in the books Mhm. and we the community college we have to get the city funding first and then it then we have to wait until this another year for the state to do their part cuz they don't align. We get the matching fund from the state. We're not allowed to book a project until we have full funding. So, sometimes that lags, right? And and it's creating that challenge. And really that has This has happened over multiple administrations. You know, the uh and so now we're we really are targeting working with this administration to really help us um be be more targeted. And as I as I mentioned in my testimony, we're in constant communication with OMB to make sure that they know what our priorities are so we're not getting projects that are being pushed out to outer years because that that's really creating a problem and it's creating the challenges you alluded earlier. If we don't fix that that that leak, that pipe, now you have another problem, but part of it is connected to funding. And the chief of OMB came from CUNY, so Just saying, just putting it on the record. >> [laughter] >> The CUNY five-year capital plan booklet include includes capital project requests for each CUNY's college. In the booklet, five of seven community mentioned need for a new roof due to leaks. Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College, Kingsborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College, and Queensborough Community College. How much funding is currently allocated to roof replacement and when is the timeline to complete the roof replacements? Um I have to get you that information. I could tell you how much how much resources are allocated to those community college, how many projects they have active. I could give you that right now, but I and I I believe that I know for a fact that in a couple of these numbers that I'm giving you, there are roof replacements in there, but I can't I don't know which ones You'll be able to pull out the roof replacement cuz that's urgent for the students and and the faculty that I hear from. >> 100% 100%. That soon they'll have to walk with umbrellas on the campus inside. We don't want that. Sure. We definitely don't want that. >> We don't want that. So, you'll get that back to us, right? Um So, has has CUNY ever canceled class due to leaking roof causing causing unsafe conditions? I don't We've never canceled classes. We we might have to in a particular situation. I I can't recall. Well, maybe there was one situation where we had to move the class, but I don't think we've ever canceled class because of leaking roof. And I and I actually I don't the Some of our colleges need roof replacement, but I will tell you that the from a from a maintenance perspective it's not that walking around there with an umbrella. That's actually not factual. And you know, >> No, if we don't invest in the replacement. I'm talking about long term, they will be walking around. And I visited some of the campuses colleges. I'm one of I'm I'm one of those chairs that's that's out in the field. I don't like second hand information. I like first I'm the primary source. I want to go out and see myself. And I do go out into the field to see the colleges. As I was the chair, I visited hundreds of schools. I That's the type of chair you will have. I'm hands-on. I'm going to look at it. And I'm going to and I'm going to bring that real information um to you. So, um I went to a college I went to Hunter College and I was sitting in the auditorium. All this chipped paint, plaster, the chairs were as old as I think. I don't know. Older than I. So, so a lot of investments have to be made if we continue to I don't think everything public should look bad, right? Sometimes people think everything public there's no investments. We have to invest if we really believe that CUNY is the economic engine of the city. CUNY is actually the heartbeat of the city if we if we do it right. So, I think um the capital side I've complained about visiting stuff and seeing um even accessibility for our students with disabilities who may want to stay in communities, but they can't have to travel far because you're not accessible for them to stay in communities. So, those are real conversations that I look forward to having with you and seeing how we can Of course, we know everything comes with money. We know. My finance chair is right here. Oh, thank you, Councilman. We look forward to working with you on that. I mean, I think >> that just very clearly I think that it's extremely important that our community colleges catch up. We, you know, we've done very well under this governor. I've gotten a lot of resource when it comes to the capital side. Record investments. But on the city side, you know, we're getting 30, 40 million dollars. And sometimes we get 60 million dollars and then we're told move 40 million dollars to the outer years. That's just not a formula. And so, that's why you have the challenges that we're having. Um one of the things that our vice chancellor for facility management was able to do, he looked at all our projects that were not were completed and, you know, needed TCOs. And we we're now repurposing some money was left over, repurposing money to try to use some of that money to to address some of those. But that's that doesn't get us where we need to get, right? We're doing our part, but we really need your support and funding to be able to address that. And I'm happy to go with you to visit any campus and walk you through some of the things we're doing. Um and when we talked about the accessibility, the fiscal 2026 to 2030 capital commitment plan was 18 16.8 million for accessibility projects, which is 8.3 million less than what was funded in the fiscal 2026 adopted budget. In CUNY, the CUNY's five-year booklet multiple community college campuses outlined the need for accessibility upgrades due to broken elevators and accessible part of the campus. Yeah, when we when when we're taking on any new project, the accessibility component that it might not be in in what you're you're receiving, that is at the forefront of everything we do. So, a project might not be an accessibility project, but it'll be a renovation of some classrooms or what have you. And with within that, we we also address any accessibility problems. I think the other thing that is is important under the under the shared service initiative that we're doing, as I mentioned to you, we had 160 170 so um contracts that were elevator companies and and, you know, when you're if you're a small school that doesn't have one or two elevators, that elevator company is not going to pay attention to you because you're just just two. But if we have a couple of hundred elevators, you know, maybe a couple of thousand elevators, then now they're they're paying more attention because it's a larger contract. And we're now able to lean in and and and put the kind of pressure. So, we're doing those kind of things to ensure that we're getting the kind of maintenance and support. But I think part of the challenges was that these individual contracts, there wasn't the ability for us to put the kind of the weight of the university um on those companies to be able to address those repairs. Have you spoken to um OMB about funding need for accessibility infrastructure in the CUNY campuses? We're we're in in communication with OMB. Um as as you alluded, we have a we have someone who's who's very familiar with our challenges. So, um and I'm leaning into that. He he used to sit on this side with with me. Yes. >> So, I'm going to be talking to him. Um um And look, we're we're hearing all the right things. Um you know, and so we're going to with your help and the help of the chair of of finance, we we hope that we could get some some additional resources, but yes, uh we're having those conversations. And um what's the timeline for accessibility in the school buildings? I know for New York City public school is 2030. What's CUNY's timeline for accessibility for students? Um I'm I I'm not really sure that we have a a a timeline like that, but I I have to get back to you because I'm not familiar with a with a date. Well, >> Uh I know that accessibility and our students with disability is extremely important to the chancellor. >> right? You I'm sure you have staff that are also with disabilities. So, for your students and staff as well who wants to navigate your school building. Has the Commission on Civil on Civil and Human Rights reach out to CUNY regarding the needs to install ramps and accessibilities in order to remain compliance with ADA laws? Um I believe that right now we're in compliance with ADA laws. I mean, it's some of it is because some of our buildings are over 100 years old and so they're grandfathered in. Um some of it that creates some challenges for us to be able to create accessibility because the way these buildings were built. Um but as I as I say as I stated, every capital dollar that has a renovation, one of the lenses and one of the things we put in the budget is to make sure that if we're going to fix a particular classroom or auditorium, then we're also looking at the accessibility to try to address that. But the it is complicated because some of our buildings I say about 55% of our buildings are over 100 years old. Um let's Give me one second. Um on on the state side, um foster students at CUNY are eligible for the Foster Youth in Success Initiative, which is New York state funded program designed to support current and former foster youth in offices as they pursue their first associate or bachelor's degree. What is the state budget for the program in fiscal 2026? And what is the proposed budget for 2027? Yeah, I think that may be rolled up in some other numbers. Let me get that for you and I'll I'll set it. Around foster youth? Okay. Yeah. So, Councilman Wong, go ahead. Um yeah, um a constituent actually just text me this, okay? Um late late February, couple weeks ago, uh on the third floor sky bridge of Hunter College, uh the whole pipe was ruptured and then uh the whole hallway is flooded along classrooms. Can you talk about what happened or what's being done to to fix that? I I don't know the particulars of that. I mean, I I assume that that the No, I I I understand, Councilman. Um I don't know the particulars. I'll have to get back to you. I do um the the the colleges have their own facility department. And I believe that that they are probably addressing them addressing that. I don't have that in my in some of the things, but I'll get back to you and give you that information. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. You done, Councilman? Okay, thank you. In the fiscal 2027 executive budget, Governor Kathy Hochul announced $500,000 between CUNY and SUNY to introduce reconnect for foster scholars program. Of the 500,000, how much is being allocated to CUNY? >> [clears throat] >> I don't have that with me. Let me let me get that to you. All right, I'm going to tell you a little secret. You know? I'm going to tell you a little secret. I was a foster mom and I adopted my boys. And so, the foster kids around this city are so important to me. So, if you look around the trajectory of our of our foster youth, that's been a passion that I carry with me. So, next time you come before me, please be prepared to answer the questions on foster youth and initiatives. We will. Uh I just want to get back to you. The the foster youth budget is it uh um is uh that we get um in the state budget is is 3.6 million. I would like to add how many students we do support as a result of that. So in academic year 24-25 was 489 students when it was first launched in 2016. It was only 65 students and it has grown as a result of that and for spring 2026 that number is 572 students enrolled across 19 undergraduate campuses. And I have enrollment by campuses if you would like. And we can you can send that over per campuses and how you support them. Absolutely. That population is very unique. Yes. And they face a lot of struggles. Yes. And that's anybody who follows my work knows that that's a population I'm very passionate about. >> And the program does offer a very comprehensive support system for exactly that reason. It's more high touch point which is necessary. Sense of belonging is a priority within the program and it creates a community so they don't feel alone and are supported all the way through. It's it's a beautiful program. The only thing I was going to add is our Chancellor was when he was running Queens College. He had you know there was a foster care program that was and We had a partnership with ACS on the without dorms. So he's very very sort of committed to that project. Uh And now that we know we'll be prepared. Yeah, and and it's important even to connect you with NYPC under my leadership in 2022 opened the first office care of foster care office in the city. It's the only one in the country. To it has nine staff dedicated to it to support youth in New York City public schools and we eliminated the the trash bag by passing the bill the luggage of love. So no kid entering or exiting this foster care system will ever ever carry a black trash bag again. So that was important work to us and meaningful work to this council and to the foster youth that comes here and tell us their stories. So we want to make sure we continue to carry their stories. And I am proud to say in CUNY some of our student leaders in the student senate have gone through the system and talk about how CUNY gave them this chance to excel and to be on the student senate as an elected student representative college is a sense of pride and I and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of how CUNY can change the trajectory of one's life regardless of means. So thank you. Thank you for that. CUNY Black Male Initiative provides additional layers for academic and social support for students from populations that are severely underrepresented in higher education particularly African American Black Afro-Caribbean Latino Hispanic males. What is the fiscal 20 What is the fiscal 2026 and 2027 budget for the Black Male Initiative? It's a 3.5 million dollars. How many students are you currently being served through this program? 7,566 Is the program available on all campuses? It is available. I will count the number. It's not all the campuses. 1 10 of our campuses. 10 10 and is the program fully funded? If we wanted to increase we would need additional funding. >> [laughter] >> And where would and how many more campuses would that If we were to increase the funding how many more campuses can we touch? I can get you the exact figure but we would ideally like it in as many as possible. And and the success rates What are you seeing in the program? We support them. So 25% because we have two components of it. One is the goal of it's pre-matriculation program to get them the GED and 25% of all participants successfully complete the pre-college program and obtain the GED. In the 2024-25 cohort 13% of them graduated from the community college four-year school or even a graduate professional degree. >> And is there any support for job placement as well? Absolutely. One of the CUNY's budget request is 1.1 million from the city and 8.5 from the state for student well-being initiative. The funding would provide more direct mental health services for students as demand continues to outpace availability. What specific resource would this funding be used for? I am unfamiliar with the title of what you mentioned. What was the name of the initiative? Student well-being initiative. >> [clears throat] >> To expand the number of mental health counselors at the campuses. And the goal of that is to decrease the ratio. What's the ratio now? The ratio right now is 1,997 to one mental health counselor. >> They will never see one. And it it need 40 additional counselors are needed to meet the Association of University College Counseling Center recommendation of 1500 to one. Yeah, and the range is 95 the ratio 95 to one to over 4,000. And what about a student who needs to see a mental health person urgently? What is the what is the what is We have connections with organizations so we have access 24/7 helplines for students but they're not the mental health counselors at the actual campus but we have support available 24/7 through partnerships with other organizations. That's been the biggest request from the students we meet with is mental health support. >> [snorts] >> All right. On February 26th a Columbia student was detained by ICE after agents misrepresented themselves as looking for a missing person. What information has CUNY communicated to students faculty and staff to protect themselves against ICE? Sure. Our students we have immigration liaisons at all of our campuses and we have at central as well and communicate with the students. We reach out to our students and immediately provide levels of support connections to mental health counselors. We also have CUNY um Citizenship Now which is a fabulous program and provide support but it's about the social and mental well-being of the student as well as the legal resources available to students because in that time of concern the faculty immediately were very concerned about their students and they provided assurances to their students that they would be there to support them and so we communicate with them through the faculty who are extremely supportive through the liaisons which a lot of these students feel very connected to and we make sure that any of their needs we connect them to the right resources. Has CUNY provided guidance to students faculty and step on staff on what steps to take if they were detained? Is there any guidance if they were detained what do they can they call you? Yes, Citizenship Now. Okay, got to make sure. >> Yes, absolutely. Has CUNY has any students faculty detained by ICE in 2025 and 2026? If so, how many and what steps have CUNY taken to assist them? I'm I'm I'm not aware aware of any of our We don't have that information. >> students Yeah, we don't. We're not aware of that. But the one thing that we have done is you know we we we send out very communication from our general counsel really laying out how ICE is to navigate our our space in terms of you know having an active warrant in order to be able to access our space. And the Columbia University incident that was a dorm that was outside of the Columbia. Even though we have open campuses is a little bit harder for them to really enter our facilities and so after the incident happened our our associate director for public safety gather all the chiefs and send out information and reinforce our our guidelines to ensure that um we're we're more mindful of of of that. I mean I think in in that particular case you know they were I mean that that public safety officer was totally overwhelmed and so one of the things that we did is we we inform across the system that when you have those situations you know you have the ability to communicate and get us get other support to come to that area so that something like that doesn't happen. Sometime our the question I asked about being detained is sometimes staffers or students go in for check-ins and they're kept similar to our student Dylan who was finally released yesterday after 10 months. He was our first student that ICE took into custody. He was finally released after 10 months. So sometimes it's just at the check-in. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that under the leadership and advocacy of the Chancellor, the Petrie Foundation and Robin Hood actually stepped in. So, aside from CUNY Citizenship Now, we launched CUNY Immigration Assistance Project and it provides direct rapid response legal support for students. And this is information that's communicated communicated to our entire community, CUNY community, so faculty, students, and staff alike so that they have that resource available and they can contact in any instance in which they um face any challenges. Okay. Thank you for that. Um CUNY also runs Citizenship Now program which offer immigration legal services, help assessing eligibility for legal benefits. The Council has allocated 4.6 million to the program in fiscal 2026. How many people did CUNY Citizenship Now serve in 2025? Do we want to Um I can tell you from the City Council program. Yeah. She wasn't sworn in, so Oh. Sorry. We have someone from Citizenship Now here. Hi Council member, how are you? So, it's since inception we've helped over 240,000 New Yorkers on their path to US citizenship. They've helped over 241,000 New Yorkers on their path towards citizenship. Now, In last fiscal year Has the program been able to serve all people that have contacted you? We have if if we are not able to serve them, we provide referrals. Yeah. If they are not able to provide support, they have referrals and connections to other legal support. >> Which we're building. Yeah. And I'm sure the funding level is good, right? >> [laughter] >> We could do more with more. I'm sure. [laughter] Um what outreach is done to ensure people are aware of the service? Does CUNY partner with any community-based organizations or other agencies to ensure people are aware? How can the Council be a resource to help further advise the program? The Council can serve as a resource in helping us get the news out. We we communicate this very broadly, not just to the liaison, but to all of the faculty and staff and make them aware. Websites, we push it out. There's social media to help ensure that everybody knows that the resources are available. >> And we're in Council member district offices and their CBOs. Excellent. They also are in their district offices with the CDOs as well. Do you want to sit We got to swear you in first. >> swear her in? Excellent. Do you >> [laughter] >> Can you say your name for the record, please? Sure. Meethu Dar. Great. Um do you affirm to tell the truth before this committee? I do. Yes. Thank you. Council member, it's nice to see you. Um so, I'm from CUNY Citizenship Now. I'm the managing attorney for the City Council. And um I I can tell you that this is a question that you asked earlier um about the number of people who are detained by ICE and there was at least 12 members of the CUNY community who's been detained and or deported. Um so, it was seven students, five parents of CUNY students, and one employee spouse. Um to tell you a little bit about the programs that we have, we have the CIAP program which is um funded through the Petrie Foundation and that's actually for individuals who are detained and they don't know what to do. They can call that line, it's 24 hours. Um we also have the citizenship program that I manage and that that's located in 37 different Council member offices either in your district offices at CBOs or in community-based organizations throughout New York City. Um and so those are two of the ways that we offer services and we also also offer services and this is something that we are actually just starting is through the supplemental asylum program. And so, for those individuals who applied for asylum, but those um when they applied, they applied and maybe in a rush and so those applications are not fully completed or there's some issues with them. And so, we are actually going to help those individuals with those type types of cases. And Councilwoman, I want to clarify something. Of of those um 12 um that were detained, none of them were were detained when they were not in CUNY properties. They were outside of CUNY. Um and while we're waiting, Council member, the Hunter um it was a it was a pipe that that froze. The pipe was fixed. So, there's no there's no issue there. And you're asking funding for asylum program? Yes, that's through the that's the third program that I just mentioned. That was for the assistance to the asylum seekers that applied previously and their applications were incomplete. Um we are also asking for funding for the City Council program. >> amount? >> The City Council program is 4.6. >> Uh-huh. For this one? For asylum, it's I have it written down on that piece of paper. It's kind of an odd number. It's 845,951 dollars. Okay. And she came down with the dollars down. >> [laughter] >> I needed the paper for that one. I love it. Um If a if a location doesn't have an appointment available, what is done to refer them to a different location? Um so, we usually have appointments within 2 weeks and so that doesn't happen often where but if it's outside of our scope of services, then we will refer it to a different organization. We have a system for that. How much more calls are you now getting prior? This fiscal year to date, we've received 30,000 calls through our contact center. Wow. And what's the turnaround time to reach potential? We tell individuals that we tell everyone that we'll give them a call back within 48 hours. >> 48 hours. >> Yeah. And depending on the case it's case by case on how long you get back or is the same 48 hours? >> 48 hours. Yeah. If they reach out to us, there's different ways to reach out to us. They can call us. We have on our website a link where individuals can actually fill out a form for a call within 48 hours. It's a very simple form, too. Okay. And that's what Council members utilize as well. Right. According to the Citizenship Now website, the location at Hostos um Los Hostos location is permanently closed and therefore it's not a full-time service location in the Bronx. What caused the Hostos office to close? So, that is outside of the City Council program, so I would have to Mhm. All right. We'll have to talk. What impact has it had on CUNY's ability to meet the demands? So, what we've pivoted to is offering services in other Council member districts and other So, we are open in 10 different CUNY campuses and so we are still continuing to expand in different areas within CUNY. Um on how many campuses are you on now? And if you were to expand, what would that look like? 10 campuses. Mhm. And continuing to offer further services. For example, I go to Lehman College once a month. We could maybe do it two, three times a month. So, just increasing our presence on campus. Okay. Okay. Um CUNY offer part-time services for the program at Lehman. Is there interest in making the location full-time? I There's always interest. Yeah. She's going to write that. There's always interest. >> [laughter] >> The more students that we can reach, the better. All right. I think this is it. >> Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you so much. And we'll we'll be emailing the follow-ups. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being >> I just wanted to get back to you on the you had asked me about the New York Mentee and I still had it under YMI, the old name. So, that's 3.1 million. 3.1 million. I like the fact that you do your homework. Thank you. Thank you. I'll come around. I'll come around. I'll come around. I'll come around. Oh, I'm going to come. Yeah. I made the same mistake. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I knew it. When I saw you, I said, "I think that's him." But I didn't want to Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. CUNY campuses. >> [snorts] >> Mhm. >> [laughter] >> Oh, yeah. Oh, good for you. That's her. Oh yeah. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. What do you say? No, no, I think yes, please. I now open the hearing for public testimony. Remind members of the public that this is a formal government proceeding, that decorum shall be observed at all times. As such, members of the public shall remain silent at all times. The witness table is reserved for people who wish to testify. No video recording or photography is allowed from the witness table. Further, members of the public may not present audio or video recordings as testimony, but may submit transcripts of such recordings to the Sergeant-at-Arms and inclusion in the hearing record. If you wish to speak at today's hearing, you will fill out an appearance card with the Sergeant-at-Arms, if you have not done so already, and wait to be recognized. When recognized, you will have 2 minutes to speak on today's hearing topic, CUNY's budget. If you have a written statement or copy, additional written statement you wish to submit for the record, please provide a copy of that testimony to Sergeant-of-Arms. First person, James Davis. >> [snorts] >> Akeem Um Damir Shak Shaktar. If I mispronounce your last name, forgive me. And Julian Vera. Julian? All right, you may begin. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Joseph and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. We're honored to be here for the first higher ed budget hearing of the term and to testify before the new chair. I'm James Davis, president of Professional Staff Congress, the union representing 30,000 faculty and professional staff at CUNY. This is a critical time for public higher education, and this is a critical committee. This council fended off nearly a hundred million dollars in cuts during the Adams administration. Without the council, CUNY's community college budget would have been decimated. Yet challenges remain. The mayor's preliminary budget increases CUNY's overall budget by nearly 25 million, but it keeps staffing levels flat. Enrollment growth at the scale we are seeing requires pedagogical investments to ensure that students have the faculty and staff to guide them to timely graduation. So we believe our budget request will help achieve this by number one, having 70% of classes taught by full-time faculty. A hiring goal of over 2,800 new full-time community college faculty will help achieve a ratio of 65 full-time faculty for every 1,000 students. Number two, staffing up popular programs like ACE and ASAP that need dedicated wrap-around services like culturally competent advisors and mental health counselors. Three, providing free OmniCards to students. The vast majority of CUNY students take public transit to campus along with juggling daily obligations. Number four, funding to help federally funded keep federally funded research alive and the jobs that come with it. And finally, since my time is short, I do want to underscore the previous discussion about capital funding for CUNY because as was stated, facilities need a lot of work. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Look forward to your questions. Good to go? Oh, yes. Good afternoon, Chair Joseph and members of the committee. My name is Akeem I'm the chairperson of the CUNY University Student Senate and a CUNY trustee, where I represent more than 240,000 students across 26 campuses. CUNY has long been New York's ladder of opportunity. For generations, it has opened doors for working-class families, immigrants, and first-generation college students to build stable lives and contribute to the economic future of this city. Today, that ladder remains, but the climb has become harder. For most CUNY students, tuition is not the primary bio barrier. Through Pell and TAP, many are able to attend tuition-free. Yet more than half of CUNY undergraduates live below the poverty line. What stands between them and a degree are the everyday costs of getting to campus, getting to internships, and getting to opportunity. Transportation is one of the most significant of those barriers. That is why the University Student Senate strongly urges the council to support the CUNY's $700,000 request to launch the Omni transit pilot for students. This is a modest investment within the scale of the city's budget, but its impact would be transformative. Transportation support increases persistence, improves graduation rates, and expands access to internships and career pathways that students would otherwise be unable to the train or bus, they cannot access the education the city has already invested in. If they cannot reach an internship, they cannot build the experience employers expect. Our OmniCard may appear small in the context of public policy, but for a student, it determines whether opportunity is within reach or just beyond it. We must also strengthen support for students with disabilities. These students deserve the resources, staffing, and services necessary to fully access their education and campus life. At the same time, we must continue investing in the physical infrastructure of CUNY campuses. Many facilities require moderate modernization and repairs so students can learn in environments that reflect the value of their education. Thank you so much. Good afternoon, and thank you to the Committee on Higher Education for this opportunity to speak with you today. My name is Damir Shak Kadav, and I'm a proud Brooklyn College student and the vice chair for senior college affairs, representing over 160,000 students across CUNY's 11 senior colleges. Independent data confirms what CUNY students have long understood. A CUNY degree is one of the strongest values in American higher education. Forbes recently ranked Brooklyn College the number one in the nation for return on student investment, placing it ahead of many elite private institutions that charge several times over our institu- our tuition. In the same analysis, eight CUNY senior colleges were recognized among the 25 uh among the 25 highest payoff uh institutions, with seven in the top 10 more than any other university system. For New York residents, annual tuition at these colleges is under $10,000 before financial aid. Graduates are often uh able to recoup their educational costs within a year and move into a strong long-term earnings with relatively low student debt. This is what effective public investment looks like. But those outcomes depend on whether students can remain enrolled long enough to reach them. I want to share one example that reflects what many students I represent are experiencing. Maria is a full-time CUNY student who also works part-time while helping to support her family. Her commute is is more than her more than hour each way and she relies entirely on the subway to get to her class, work, and campus resources. Uh when her work hours were reduced, she began structuring her education around what she could afford on her OmniCard. On the days when she had only one class, she chose not to attend. Instead, she came to campus only on days when she had multiple classes scheduled so that each trip felt financially justified. What seems like a practical adjustment had real consequences. She missed the same course repeatedly, fell behind, and put her semester at risk not because she lacked commitment but because she was trying to manage the cost of getting to class. This is why CUNY University Student Senate is requesting $700,000 uh from the city to fund free OmniCard pilot program for CUNY students. This is a targeted practical investment that ensures the cost of transportation is not the reason a student must choose between attending class or staying home. It directly supports retention and improves graduation outcomes and advances city goals around equity. CUNY senior colleges have already demonstrated that modest public investment can trans- translate into strong earnings with low graduate uh with low graduate debt uh or with free OmniCard uh pilot program, continued support for students' basic needs, we can ensure that those outcomes are within the reach for students like Maria and across all of our campuses. Thank This is where I go. Thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to testify alongside my colleagues. My name is Julian Vera and I am the current vice chair for students with disabilities for the CUNY University Student Senate, proudly representing students from across CUNY campuses and a proud product from the City College of New York. I'm also a proud student with an invisible disability, being on the spectrum and being a product of special education. CUNY is an incredibly diverse institution that opens doors to thousands of opportunities, especially when it comes to how many students with disabilities come here to study and thrive in this environment with more than 9,000 students with disabilities studying here. Through my effort within the CUNY University Student Senate, I frequently hear barriers from students from different CUNY schools, especially with barriers to transportation. I also experience barriers to transportation myself where I have to pay a lot of money out of pocket, especially with the cost increase recently 2 months ago with my balance for my academics with my balance for community service as well. While the reduced fare addresses some of the issues, I still believe that it does not go far enough to address barriers that students experience across CUNY as it is still money that they end up having to pay >> [clears throat] >> to pay out of pocket while money can be used for things such as food, supplies, and other things. Which is why on the behalf of my colleagues that are here to testify today, I'm also proud to support the CUNY University Student Senate legislative priorities for this year. I first want to bring up the initiative to launch the free OmniCard pilot program for CUNY students requesting $700,000. As I did bring up, students experience financial barriers traveling when it comes to attending classes and other activities in their institutions. This pilot program will ensure that students can participate and access their education and their opportunities without concern of financial barriers getting in the way. I also want to bring up initiative to increase disability funding. This funding is not increased in years since 1997. While it has received support for programs such as CUNY LEADS and Unlimited, it hasn't been invested for more and more resources such as assistive technology and increased funding for services and specialists. I want to thank you for giving me and my colleagues the opportunity to testify on the behalf of not only the CUNY University Student Senate but the City University of New York on behalf. Thank you and I also yield back. Thank you. James, I have a question for you. What field do you see have more adjunct professors? I ask, nobody can answer. Thank you for re-asking. I'm glad to be close enough to the ground to be able to provide a response to that. It doesn't break down cleanly along disciplinary lines. Where you see the breakdown is between general education offerings and everything else at this school. So, where you see uh first-year courses, general education, service courses like introduction, math, English, etc. tend to have higher concentrations of adjunct faculty. Thank you. Thank you for that. CUNY mentioned pays based on contract. Do you feel the contract is fair and provide sufficient pay? No, not yet. It does not. Work in progress? Work in progress. You know, as executive vice chancellor said, we were able to reach agreement in the last round that made significant improvement. Our goal is to have pay parity, um equal pay for equal work for the teaching work that our faculty do irrespective of their job title. So, we're we're getting there but um but we're not quite there yet. Okay. And that's that's along the line I talked about affordability in the workforce, right? We have to be able to afford both be able to afford the city that we live in. I have a question for you. How much um you said they have not invested in technology um disability technology in the school. How much would that cost for the investment? Regards for the investment alongside with the package two for the legislative priorities around $700,000. I had the opportunity to speak to members of the CUNY team for disabilities and had a meeting with them and they told me that since 1997, while there has been investment in things such as some assistive technology and also specialists, it hasn't increased since 1997 and I was speaking in regards to a request to further increase disability funding across all CUNY campuses on behalf of the New York City Council. Okay. Go ahead. Yeah, and just to add to that um currently we're um CUNY's looking at around 7.8 million um to in total for to include assistive technology, um more staffing to help our students with disabilities. So, that's what Julian was referring to as well. Okay. So, it's 7.8 million. 7.7 7.8, yeah. A million to invest in disabilities to sup- assistive devices. >> Assistive technology kind of thing. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you all. Josiah Ramsar Ramsar Fatima Camille Uh What Wilufo Wilson? Am I mispronouncing that wrong? I couldn't read the Wilson? Last name? Okay. Tell me your first name again. Tell me your first name. Oh, okay. And Lo Anderson? That's you? All right. You may begin. Okay, thank you. Uh good afternoon, Chair Joseph. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Josiah Ramsar and I'm the current vice chair for graduate affairs in the CUNY University Student Senate and I'm proud to represent the over 30,000 graduate students across CUNY and I'm also a third-year law student at the CUNY School of Law as well. As a graduate student, I want to speak specifically of supporting uh free OmniCards for CUNY students. I am a proud product of New York City public schools. I grew up in Queens, still live there, and I had access to a MetroCard growing up, which is now an OmniCard. Um when I began my when I began my studies at CUNY in 2019 at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, um that free MetroCard was no longer available, now OmniCards. And since then uh transportation costs have only increased as well. Us graduate students were already facing and managing higher tuition cost, limited access to financial aid, especially with more cuts, and the demand of work and other family responsibilities. Many Many of us graduate students rely primarily on loans and transportation becomes yet another expense that adds to that burden that graduate students face. Students should not have to get in more debt just to simply get to class. And one thing I definitely don't want either is students being stopped by police and having to face a $100 fine for uh fare evasion as well, which uh I know some students have had to go through that, unfortunately. I am asking the council to support funding $700,000 for the free OmniCard pilot program from the University Student Senate because this investment would reduce financial strain and improve attendance, retention, and student success across CUNY. Many of us in this room rely on public transportation and understand its importance. For students, access to transit directly affects access access to to Excuse me. For students, access to transit directly affects access to education. Thank you so much for your time and consideration today. Go ahead. Good afternoon, Chair. Press turn your mic on. Yep. Good afternoon, Chair, and members of the Higher Education Committee. My name is Fatima Zahara Kamil, and I serve as the Vice Chair for International Students Affairs in the CUNY University Student Senate, representing students across the five boroughs. I'm also a student at Kingsborough Community College. Today is also Eid al-Fitr for many Muslim students, including myself. It is a day centered on community, gratitude, and opportunity. I am honored to be here on this day speaking on behalf of students across CUNY. CUNY is the most diverse public university system in the United States. Our students include first-generation college students, immigrants, international students, and working students, each navigating different challenges in pursuit of their education. Through my work with the University Student Senate, I regularly hear from students across campuses about the barriers they face. I also experience many of these challenges myself. As an international student, balancing academics, leadership, and commuting across the city requires constant financial and personal trade-offs. For many students, this is not the exception, it is the norm. Today, I am here to support the CUNY Student Legislative Priority for 2023. First, free OmniCards for CUNY students. Transportation remains a significant a significant burden. Many students travel across boroughs to attend classes, internships, research opportunities, and leadership commitments. We are requesting $700,000 in the city budget to fund a free OmniCard pilot. This will reduce a fine This will reduce a daily financial strain and ensure that students can consistently access their both their education and the opportunities that support their long-term success. Second, continued investment in campus and technology infrastructure. Students should be able to learn in an environment with reliable Wi-Fi, functional facilities, and updated classroom technology that reflect the standards of a modern university. Finally, equitable access through modern assistive technology must remain a priority so that students with disabilities can fully participate in academic and campus life. These investments are especially important for international immigrant and undocumented students who often face additional financial and structural barriers while pursuing higher education. CUNY's diversity is one of New York City's greatest strength. Supporting its students means strengthening the community and workforce that sustain this city. CUNY students are not asking for more than what is necessary. We are asking for the conditions that allow us to learn, to contribute, and to complete what we started. Thank you for your time and continued support. Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Rhoda Wilson, and I serve as the Vice Chair of Legislative Affairs for the CUNY University Student Senate, representing more than 240,000 students across 26 campuses. I'm also a student at the College of Staten Island, majoring communications with a concentration in digital media and design. As an immigrant student, CUNY has been a place of both affordability and community. It has provided me and many others access to a quality education that might have not otherwise been possible. For more than 170 years, CUNY has built a represent a reputation as a pathway to uphold to a pathway to upward mobility, offering students the resources and opportunities to improve their economic futures. CUNY students are not defined by the classroom alone. Many are parents building stability for their families. Many are working part-time or full-time, often balancing balancing more than one job. And even with these responsibilities, students continue to show up for their education and for their communities. I'm asking you to support the 700,000 free OmniCard pilot program. To support students, we must invest in opportunities that prepare them for the future. Expanding access to internships mentorships and fellowships is essential. Strengthening partnerships with city employers and integrating work experience into the academic programs will better position students to succeed after graduation. At the same time, we must address the barriers that make it difficult for students to fully participate in these opportunities. Transportation is one of the most immediate challenges. Many students rely on public transit and travel long distances, sometimes up to 2 hours to attend class, work, or internships. As fares continue to rise, these costs have become an increasingly heavy burden. This is why we are urging for the support of the University Student Senate's legislative priority for free OmniCards for CUNY students. Access to transportation is access to education. When students cannot afford the cost of getting to campus, they cannot afford to attend class. When they can't afford to travel, they're shut out of internships, research opportunities, and civic engagement. Students are forced into difficult choices between attending class, going to work, or meeting basic needs. These are not choices they should have to make. CUNY has long been the engine of social mobility for New York's working class and immigrant communities. Investing in CUNY is an investment in the future of this city. We urge you to support free OmniCards for CUNY students and continue funding policies that remove barriers to higher education. The return on investment is clear. When students can access their education consistently, they graduate and contribute to the economy and strengthen our communities. Thank you for your time. And I look forward to working together to build a stronger future for for CUNY students and for New York City. Thank you. Go ahead. Good afternoon, Chair Joseph, and members of the committee. My name is Lo Anderson, and I'm a community organizer with Students for Students, a club based out of Lehman College, and the student engagement coordinator for CUNY CARES. I'm here to speak to budget and to highlight that housing stability and economic support are essential to student retention at CUNY. According to the CUNY CARES 2025 Student Survey, 51.5% of students experienced housing insecurity in the past year, and 5.9% experienced homelessness. In the Bronx, nearly 60% of students reported housing problems, and over 9% experienced homelessness during the academic year. These are students trying to stay enrolled while navigating housing challenges. Supporting them is critical to student success. Through CUNY CARES, we are implementing measurable interventions that help students remain enrolled. We have supported students who transitioned into shelter, helped single parents retain their rental subsidies, and secured over $159,000 in emergency assistance through the Human Resources Administration. CUNY CARES hired CUNY's first housing specialist and is also working with a Housing Advisory Committee to advance eviction prevention, rapid rehousing, and new housing development strategies. These efforts align directly with the city's broader housing goals. At the same time, we are leveraging career and technical education policy, along with technology and AI, to close enrollment and persistent gaps by connecting students to benefits earlier. I am also conducting a legal analysis on the chronic underutilization of the Career and Technical Education Act, with the goal of expanding access to SNAP benefits for over 70,000 students in two-year programs and unmatriculated students in pre-college courses. Investing in these in these systems is evidence-based strategy that directly supports retention. Expansion of CUNY CARES, along with alignment with University Student Senate priorities, such as free MetroCards for CUNY students, ensures that basic needs support is available to those who need it most. My ask is simple. Continue to prioritize programs that stabilize students, expand access to basic needs support, and scale interventions that keep students enrolled. Thank you. Thank you. Jana Brecher. Am I saying that right? Calise Calise? Am I saying that right? Matthew. >> You may begin. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Jonna Birgier and I am program coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group, NYPIRG. We are a state-wide non-partisan organization founded by students to engage their peers in civic life. NYPIRG urges the New York City Council to adopt a budget that strengthens CUNY and supports student success and to continue advocating for a stronger final state budget. First, the city should expand proven opportunity programs like ASAP and ACE. These programs boost retention and graduation rates by covering tuition gaps, providing advising and mentoring, and helping with the costs like textbooks and transportation. They work and they deserve expansion. We also urge funding for CUNY Reconnect at $11.7 million. This program has already helped bring 47,000 New Yorkers back to college to complete their degrees and it should be expanded to reach even more students. Second, the Council must address transportation affordability. While K-12 students receive free OmniCards, college students are left to shoulder rising transit costs. We urge full funding of the student commuter grant pilot program at $700,000 from the city. Third, CUNY's infrastructure is in urgent need of investment. With an average building age of 50 years and only 25% of facilities in good condition, students are learning in deteriorating environments. The city must allocate capital funding to ensure safe and functional campuses. Finally, we urge full funding for Council-supported initiatives like campus child care centers, Citizenship Now, and CUNY CARES, which provide critical support for student parents, immigrant students, and those facing facing basic needs insecurity. At the state level, we ask that the Council advocate for increased operating capital funding, expansion of financial aid, and passage of the New Deal for CUNY. Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify and for your support. Good afternoon, Chair Joseph and members of the Committee on Higher Education. My name is Kelsey Pams Rory and I am the Executive Director of Braven New York. As a proud daughter of Jamaican immigrants and a lifelong New Yorker, I know firsthand that higher education can change the trajectory of a family, but only if it leads to real economic opportunity. That's why Braven exist. Braven is a non-profit organization that partners with colleges and universities to ensure low-income and first-generation students don't just earn degrees, but secure strong first jobs or admission to graduate school. Since launching in New York City in 2020 with Lehman College and expanding to City College in 2023, we have served more than 2,900 students. We will expand this fall to the University of Mount Saint Vincent, reaching nearly 1,500 students over 5 years. Our results show what's possible. Nationally, 84% of Braven graduates are employed or in graduate school and 92% graduate on time. But this progress is happening in a more difficult job market. Entry-level jobs in New York declined by 37% between 2022 and 2024. For today's students, a college degree alone is no longer enough. Student needs Students need structured pathways into the workforce. That's why I encourage the Council to increase funding for proven CUNY programs like CUNY Reconnect, CUNY ACE, and the Public Service Training Corps and to invest in non-profit partners like Braven. Braven is a career accelerating experience starting with the credit-bearing course where students build skills, confidence, and networks. Our support continues with coaching, mentorship, and employer connections so students don't just graduate, they launch. This turns a college degree into real economic opportunity. I ask you to invest in programs connecting higher education to the workforce so every New Yorker has pathway to the American dream. Thank you, Chair Joseph and members of the Committee on Higher Education for your leadership and support of CUNY students. Good afternoon. Um so >> [sighs] >> my name is Matthew and I currently attend City Tech and the biggest reason why I'm here today is to talk about the need for more campus infrastructure, especially considering what's happening at my campus. And I want to specifically call out campus admin at um admin um about how my campus is basically falling apart and students are not aware about what's happening and I've tried to confront admin about this and they basically turned a blind eye or they've tried to sweep it under the rug. And I know it's happening at my campus and I know it's happening all over. I know there's been famous like for like for there's other colleges where they have the like names of broke link college. I don't want to even say my campus's nickname cuz I feel that's not a really a not safe place for me to say it. But also it's just the idea that we need to be holding campus admin accountable for their actions. And especially with Luis Venegas um for my own campus about how he has turned his own eye on the on the mold in the library, the asbestos everywhere, and and having me have uh false reports. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. That concludes the in-person portion of our public testimony. We will now move to remote testimony. If you're testifying remotely, please listen for your name to be called. Once your name is called, a member of our staff will unmute you. You may then start your testimony once the Sergeant at Arms sets the clock and cues you to begin. You you Sakina Tryce. You may begin once you're unmuted and the sergeant cues you. Starting time. Good afternoon. You may begin. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony today. My name is Sakina Tryce and I am a senior staff attorney at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest in our Disability Justice Program. And I'm here to speak about accessibility in higher education, um particularly at CUNY. CUNY was created to be a pathway to opportunity for all New Yorkers, but for students with disabilities, that promise remains out of reach. Over the past 2 years, our office have seen a consistent pattern. Students with disabilities are being denied reasonable accommodations, facing hostility when they advocate for themselves, and encountering disability services offices that are understaffed and under-resourced. These are not isolated incidents. They reflect systemic failures across campuses. Even when accommodations are approved, professors are refusing to implement them. Students report being questioned, dismissed, and in some cases harassed. At the same time, students seeking accommodations face another barrier, which is the high cost of documentation. Neuropsychological evaluations can cost thousands of dollars, effectively locking low-income students out of the process entirely. These barriers exist within a broader context. While CUNY's budget is over $1.5 billion, critical accessibility needs remain unmet. Disability services office lack sufficient staffing and training, and campus facilities still require significant investment to meet ADA compliance and basic accessibility standards. There must be a change. We urge you to allocate and fully fund disability services offices, ensuring adequate staffing and training. Fund free or low-cost disability evaluations so students can access accommodations without financial hardship. And for students who received the same accommodations in secondary school that they are requesting from a post-secondary institution, the post-secondary institution must rely on the disability diagnosis and documentation set forth in their individualized education program, um as Assembly Bill A3494 proposes to do. Um, we must assess whether post-secondary institutions address >> Thank you for your testimony. Time has expired. Thank you. Um, I appreciate it. Can you repeat the last part of that bill that you just talked about? Yes. Um, the Assembly Bill number is Bill A3494. And would this tie in also with um Local Law 18 with students with disabilities that are entering higher education? Yes, it's pretty much similar um and it would allow the post-secondary institution to rely on um you know, the diagnosis as set forth in the IEP and the 504 plans. Okay, thank you. If you heard the hearing earlier, we talked about that in depth. Thank you. Uh-huh, you're welcome. Thank you. Um If there's anyone else present in the room that has not testified, but wishes to testify, please do so by re- Please raise your hand. All right, if there any witnesses signed up to testify remotely, but are not present as Zoom, um the following witnesses also signed up to testify remotely. If you are online or here in person, please you raise your hand. I'll raise hands, right? All right. So, adjourned adjourned adjourning the Thank you for our first hearing together. Thank you, guys.