Editorial
Letter to Pataki

Dear Governor George Pataki,

We're confused. Every year it seems you try to keep state taxes from rising through education cuts. For all the rhetoric about education being the foundation of our great state, we are befuddled when you continue to propose fiscal cuts that will ultimately steal education away from those who want and deserve it. Now what kind of state leadership is that?

The main program targeting higher education is the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), a state-based financial aid program. This program has important significance for us at Adelphi. About 1,800 Adelphi students (out of 300,000 TAP recipients in New York State) receive aid through TAP. We are told that a proposed cut to TAP funds will save some $237 million. This proposal calls for students to pay one-third of their former TAP funds from their own pockets.

Frankly, we find your reasoning faulty and its outcomes punitive. Though we are sympathetic to the fiscal constraints of the state, higher education is a necessity and should be treated as one. The job market demands a college degree, and the decision to cut financial aid only disables our ability to attend college or promotes a graduate class that is deep in debt (as if graduates need to be further in debt after four years of expensive schooling). Not only are you taking away money from college students now, you're also taking away income from us later on.

Clearly, cost is a key component for many young people in their decision whether to attend college or not. Students, particularly those most in need of TAP, might consider that their best choice is to drop out. What that means to long-term job rates and to reviving an economy still reeling from skyrocketing unemployment is not difficult to imagine. The failure of the state to support students is really a failure of a short-sighted government that cannot see the deleterious impact of such cuts. It is a failure of will and vision, and we assume these are qualities that you don't want to associate with your administration.

Adelphi, of course, will be one of scores of schools to feel the wrath of your poorly planned budget; but why stop at TAP? Your proposal takes funds away from other financial assistance programs, such as CSTEP and HEOP. Though smaller in number of recipients, these programs are also essential to students' ability to seek a higher education.

Alright, Governor Pataki, we urge you to look at the numbers. Look at needs. Make good decisions. Find creative solutions to the budgetary crunch. But remember to consider the consequences should you fail to come through and support students in New York State.

Sincerely,
Gillian Candelaria
Editor-in-Chief of the Delphian
Adelphi University