FAQs
- How big is Stony Brook’s state budget?
At the start of the 2009-10 fiscal year, the state budget was $332,014,469.
- What share of the SUNY budget goes to Stony Brook?
In 2009-10, Stony Brook’s revised base budget represents approximately 13% of total State University of New York state budget.
- What is the total NYS budget and how much goes to SUNY?
The 2009-10 State Operating Funds budget is $78.2 billion. SUNY’s budget is $2,375 million or approximately 3% of the NYS total. The SUNY numbers are somewhat understated as there are several large costs, e.g. fringe benefits and debt service payments, not included in the SUNY numbers shown above.
- Why do I hear so many different numbers relative to Stony Brook’s budget?
Stony Brook’s all-funds budget is comprised of revenue from a variety of sources, each changing somewhat from year to year. In 2009-10, the all-funds budget exceeded $1.9 billion. The state budget of $332 million is the primary component supporting academic programs and related costs. This complexity, within a very fluid budget environment (mid-year reductions, etc.) results in numbers that change frequently.
- How much was Stony Brook’s budget cut for fiscal years 2008-09, 09-10 and what’s projected for 11-10?
The total actual/projected cuts for that period total over $55 million. Please see Specific Cuts to Stony Brook’s Budget for a listing of those specific reductions.
- How much of those reductions have been distributed to the VP areas so far?
VP area budgets have been reduced by approximately $25 million during the past two years. See Distributed base budget reductions for the details.
- How has the campus responded to the budget reductions received to date?
On December 7th, 2009 President Stanley issued an “Expenditure Reduction Plan” to the campus effectively freezing all non-health care non-academic hiring in many of the campus’ operating funds. It also imposed a number of restrictions on such things as equipment purchases, travel, overtime, consultant contracts and temporary agency hiring. See Expenditure Reduction Plan for the text of that announcement.
- What have been some of the specific impacts of the current budget situation?
See Specific Budget Reduction Impacts for a list of many of the impacts of the budget reductions.
- When will we know what Stony Brook’s budget will be for 2010-11?
The NYS budget year begins April 1st. The legislature and the governor should reach an agreement before then (4/1/10) although there have been years when the process took longer. SUNY’s fiscal year begins July 1st. In most budget cycles, Stony Brook has budget numbers in late May or early June.
- If the legislature approves Governor Paterson’s Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, will Stony Brook’s budget problems be resolved?
Unfortunately, no. Although the Empowerment and Innovation Act holds great promise for the future, the cuts of 2009-10 and additional losses expected for 2010-11, will leave Stony Brook with a large budget gap to manage. However, approval of the Empowerment and Innovation Act will allow us to reasonably project future tuition revenue that will substantially soften the impact of cuts sustained to date and allow us to hire additional faculty and supporting staff.
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