Cortland Standard .net

By SARAH VABER
Staff Reporter
svaber@cortlandstandard.net
Higher education initiatives included in the recently passed 2015-16 state budget will provide scholarships and student loan relief, as well as stricter standards for teaching programs and teachers.
“Overall, we’re pleased with the budget for the college,” said Fred Pierce, a spokesman for SUNY Cortland. “We never get everything that we like to have. There were no cuts, or anything like that, that are going to cause an issue.”
Included in the state budget passed Tuesday is State University of New York and City University of New York scholarship funding for top students entering the education field. To be eligible, students must commit to teaching in the state for five years, according to an executive office news release.
It was unclear how much funding was included in this provision and what the requirements are for “top” students that would apply.
“Anything that increases the ability for students to access the educational experience we provide is a positive,” Pierce said. The initiative may also increase enrollment at the college, he noted.
Education students said Friday they were interested in the scholarshipprogram.
“If you don’t plan on moving out of the state, then why not do it?” said Rob Kowalik, a 19-year-old sophomore studying inclusive special education at SUNY Cortland. Kowalik is fromStaten Island.
Junior Elizabeth Tiffany, an education major, said she would have looked into the program if it had been available her freshman year.
“But I think it sounds very interesting, definitely, and probably really helpful for a lot of people who are struggling,” said Tiffany, 21, of Cortland.
A student loan relief program included in the budget will allow eligible graduates to put off paying their student loans for two years after they graduate, according to an executive news release. The graduates must be state residents, continue to live in New York after college and take part in the federal Pay As You Earn Plan income-based loan repayment program in order to benefit from the state program.
Students must also earn less than $50,000 a year.
The state program would cover the remaining amount of loan payments not covered under the federal initiative.
Under the federal program, graduates are required to pay 10 percent of their discretionary income each month on their student loans for 20 years. Whatever is not paid after 20 years is forgiven.
It was unclear Friday how much money was allotted to the state program that an estimated 7,100 graduates would use in its first year.
The state estimates participation to grow to 24,000 graduates in 2019-20, which will cost $41.7 million.
STUDENT DEBT A CONCERN
SUNY Cortland welcomes any program that helps students from middle and low-income families attend college and develop a career, Pierce said. The college is also concerned about the amount of debt students are graduating with, he said.
“It’s a problem because not every student goes into a field where they will make a lot of money,” Pierce said, noting teachers, researchers and police officers all graduate from SUNY Cortland. “We’re not solely making Wall Street bankers.”
Not having to pay for student debt for two years would be beneficial, especially for students who will graduate with a lot of debt, said Ashley Martin, a senior psychology student at the college.
“If you have a large amount of debt, if you go to Yale or Harvard, you’ll be in debt for the rest of your life,” said Martin, 22, of Groton.
One downside of the program would be if a graduate wanted to switch careers before the five years was up, Kowalik said.
All SUNY colleges offer students a lower debt burden than private schools, Pierce noted.
“We make an effort to try to keep it (debt) down and it seems to be succeeding,” he said.
Students who graduated from SUNY Cortland with their bachelor’s degree in 2013 had an average debt load of $28,656, according to the nonprofit Institute on College Access & Student Success that collected data on public and private four-year schools. Seventy percent of the 1,551 students who received their degree had student debt.
The average amount of debt for students who graduated across the state from four-year colleges in 2013 was $26,381, according to the institute.
The state budget also included increased standards for education colleges and certified teachers, according to the news release.
Under the Graduate Education Program Accreditation, the state Education Department will have increased authority to close college programs that are deemed to not adequately prepare students to be teachers.
How the department’s power would be increased and what the standards would be for the college programs was not clear Friday.
The accreditation program would also set the first uniform admissions standards for all colleges in the state, according to the release.
While the details of this program are not yet known, it is an area of “huge discussion” in the state, Pierce said.
“From our perspective, we arefocused on making sure that as an educational institution we are doing everything we can to fully prepare our prospective teachers to meet whatever requirements are put in place for them in the future,” he said.
Pierce noted SUNY Cortland students did very well on the Teacher Performance Assessment Portfolio, an assessment the state required for the first time in May.
The SUNY Cortland students’ actual average on the assessment was unavailable Friday.
Another budget provision will now require teachers who have obtained their certification to complete 100 hours of continuing education and recertify every five years, according to the release. Teachers who do not complete the requirements would lose their licenses.
Details of the program were unavailable Friday.
According to the state Education Department’s website, highered.nysed.gov, the only level of certification which teachers can still pursue, a professional certification, requires teachers to complete 175 hours of professional development every five years. A lower level certification, called an initial certificate, is only valid for five years but does not require professional development.
SUNY Cortland already offers continuing education opportunities for students and would like to offer students what is needed to meet this requirement, Pierce said.