Syracuse University will cover 85 percent of the tuition for children of employees of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry who want to attend SU, a significant change from the original proposal, which did not offer any contribution.

Administrators announced the new contribution Monday in the midst of proposed changes to employee benefits. The tuition benefit for children of ESF employees is only a portion of the entire benefits proposal, which will be presented in its final form March 11.

The original benefits proposal, released in January, said SU was looking to phase out the tuition benefits for children of ESF employees after fall 2010. Currently, children of employees at ESF receive the same free full-tuition benefits as dependents of SU employees. SU and ESF were looking to provide aid through Say Yes to Education, standard financial aid, merit scholarships and a special scholarship fund, said Kevin Quinn, senior vice president of public affairs, in an e-mail.

But the original proposal lacked specificity of the amount of aid ESF employees’ children might get from those other sources, Quinn said, so it was changed to a straight 85 percent contribution from SU.

‘We recognized that the lack of specificity for individual families in this ‘mixture’ of financial aid support made it difficult for people to understand the value of the opportunity we would be providing,’ Quinn said.

Quinn said the new plan still enables SU to achieve its benefits savings target and recognizes the important relationship between ESF and SU. Children of ESF employees hired after August will not be eligible for the tuition benefit, Quinn said.

‘The plan is both respectful of the important, synergistic relationship that SU and ESF have, and it is fiscally responsible,’ he said.

Cornelius Murphy, president of ESF, said he agreed the proposal respects the relationship between ESF and SU. After a considerable amount of discussion between both universities, ESF proposed a solution that Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina based their changes off of, he said.

He said he understands SU’s need to reduce expenses in the current economic climate because ESF is trying to do the same.

‘We very much respect and appreciate the consideration extended by Chancellor Cantor and Provost Spina,’ he said.

kronayne@syr.edu

Published on March 2, 2010 at 12:00 pm