Gov. George E. Pataki vetoed many components of the New York state Senate and Assembly’s higher education budget bill Wednesday, cutting aid that would have greatly helped Syracuse University and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students to afford the rising costs of college.

Pataki’s vetoes came on the last possible day within the 10-day window for signing or vetoing the higher education budget bill. The vetoes leave the budget more similar to his original assistance-cutting budget proposal, which was issued Jan. 17.

‘The governor is vetoing access to higher education, especially for the state’s poorer students,’ said Miriam Kramer, the New York Public Interest Research Group’s government policy analyst. ‘He is also vetoing the chance for public colleges in New York to get ahead and to grow.’

The governor vetoed $119.5 million in funding for the Tuition Assistance Program, which the Senate and Assembly had enhanced in their budget bill.

T.A.P. is a form of financial aid assistance specifically for New York state residents attending private or public colleges and universities in New York, said Christopher Walsh, dean of financial aid at SU, in a previous article. Beyond that, T.A.P. awards are based solely on family income: the lower the income, the larger the aid.

The T.A.P. vetoes mean that students who take less than 15 credit hours will lose 20 percent of their T.A.P. awards, Kramer said. All students in default on federal loans will not be eligible for T.A.P., regardless of the loan guarantor.

More than 2,500 SU students receive tuition assistance from New York state. This assistance totals nearly $7 million in aid. The T.A.P. vetoes could affect many of these 2,500 students, Kramer said.

It is sad that funding for lower income students has been cut, said Tom Hackman, NYPIRG’s government/voter rights project leader at SU and a member of the statewide executive board.

‘(T.A.P.) is not for everybody,’ Hackman said. ‘It is helping those who need it most. To hear that the governor is vetoing funding for lower income students to get education and move up in the world is very disappointing.’

Supporters of higher education have been fearful of potential vetoes of the Senate and Assembly’s budget bill, which Kramer at the time called ‘the best (higher education) budget we have seen in a generation.’

The silver lining of the higher education vetoes is that unlike other vetoes Pataki has issued, he did not call the Senate and Assembly’s proposals unconstitutional, Kramer said. Rather, he said the state simply did not have enough money, saying the it would go into debt from excessive spending.

While the governor said there is not enough money for the Senate and Assembly’s higher education spending, New York state had a surplus between $2 and $4 billion, Kramer said.

‘He doesn’t want to spend the money, but there is money,’ Kramer said. ‘There is a surplus this year. The money should be spent on higher education.’

The Senate and the Assembly have 30 days to override the vetoes against higher education, Kramer said. She said she hopes they will be able to do so when they return to session from vacation on April 24.

‘I am urging them to override the vetoes,’ she said. ‘They have pledged their support for the funding. They shouldn’t let a little governor’s veto in the way.’

Kramer and Hackman encouraged students to contact their representatives.

‘The legislature definitely can and has in the past override budget vetoes,’ Hackman said. ‘We have legislators representing Syracuse, and they need to hear students on this issue. They listen to everyone who calls; calling can make a difference.’

Kramer said the vetoes seem to show the budget has become less about the issues where the people of New York are affected and more what makes sense as politicians.

‘(Pataki) has aspirations to move on to higher office,’ Kramer said of the lame-duck governor. ‘It all becomes how can this help his career. I think this is part of a political calculation of the governor.’

Ryan Suser, NYPIRG’s consumer action project co-leader at SU and statewide executive board representative, expressed anger when he first heard about the veto.

‘Just hearing it, I am so upset,’ Suser said. ‘Students were so excited. Even the Assembly and the Senate were excited, excited to be helping students, getting people interested in state politics again.’

If the Senate and Assembly’s budget bill had passed without vetoes, it might have generated stronger student interest in state politics, Suser said.

‘Students finally would have felt like someone listened to them,’ he said. ‘The vetoes show us that students are very low on the list of government priorities … it was cautiously optimistic of us to hope that the governor for the first time in his life would care about students.’

Published on April 11, 2006 at 12:00 pm