cIcu | Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities

For immediate release, February 13, 2007

Contact:    Dennis Kennedy, 518-436-4781, dennis@cicu.org

Independent Sector Student Lobby Day Draws 650 Students Seeking to Increase Student Aid; Raising the Maximum Award for TAP to $6,000 and Boosting HEOP and Liberty Partnerships Program Funding are Top Priorities

Albany, NY – 700 students from 55 independent college and university campuses statewide will participate in Independent Sector Student Lobby Day in Albany on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, hosted by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU).

Campus delegations attending hundreds of meetings with legislators are calling for policymakers to raise funding for the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) – including an increase in the maximum award to $6000 – and boost funds for the Higher Education Opportunity and Liberty Partnership Programs by 20 percent.

Higher education committee chairs Senator Kenneth P. LaValle and Assemblyman Ronald J. Canestrari have been invited to address all participants at an orientation session and rally at 10:30 a.m. in the Well of the Legislative Office Building.

“Student aid is the Independent Sector’s highest priority this session. Since 1974, TAP grants have helped more than four million New Yorkers studying at a college or university in the state. But, it’s been seven years since TAP for undergraduate, dependent students has gone up; 17 years in the case of independent students, and two decades since any improvement in TAP for graduate students. We have failed to keep pace with an entire generation,” said CICU president Abe Lackman.

Currently, 335,000 low- and middle-income students rely on TAP, including 95,000 in the Independent Sector.

Students, alumni, and administrators from the following campuses and regions:

Western New York - Canisius College, D'Youville College, Daemen College, Hilbert College, Niagara University, St. Bonaventure University, Trocaire College, Villa Maria College of Buffalo
 

Greater Rochester - Alfred University, Nazareth College

Central New York - Cazenovia College, Colgate University, Cornell University, Hamilton College, Ithaca College, Le Moyne College, St. Joseph’s University, Syracuse University, Wells College, Utica College

Northern New York - St. Lawrence University

Capital Region - The College of Saint Rose, The Sage Colleges, Siena College, Skidmore College, Union College

Hudson Valley - Bard College, The College of New Rochelle, Mercy College, Marist College, Mount Saint Mary College, Nyack College, Pace University, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Vassar College

New York City - Barnard College, The College of New Rochelle, Columbia University, Fordham University, New York Institute of Technology, New York University, Mercy College, Pace University, Polytechnic University, Pratt Institute, St. Francis College, St. John's University, St. Joseph’s College

Long Island - Dowling College, Hofstra University, Long Island University, Molloy College, New York Institute of Technology

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The Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu) represents the chief executives of New York's 100+ independent (private, not-for-profit) colleges and universities on issues of public policy. Member colleges compose the largest private sector of higher education in the world and confer most of the bachelor's degrees (57%), master's degrees (71%), and doctoral and first-professional degrees (80%) earned in New York State.
Our member campuses enroll more than 460,000 students, including 300,000 New York State residents. One in three (33%) New Yorkers enrolled full time at independent colleges and universities in the state comes from a family earning less than $40,000 annually. And most (53%) African-American and Latino students who earn their bachelor's and graduate degrees in New York State are Independent Sector alumni.