ALBANY – Under the deficit reduction plan passed by the New York State Assembly on February 3, SUNY and CUNY students will have to fork over an additional $600 in tuition charges each year.

For many students, "to eat or not to eat" may become more relevant a matter than Hamlet's philosophical musing. "I'm existing on Ramen Noodles now," said John Saric, a junior at SUNY New Paltz. "I don't know how I'll do it."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver called the plan a "three-way agreement," that comprises $1.6 billion in cuts and other budget actions, which include reductions to legislative programs, health care, the Environmental Protection Fund, and a tuition increase for SUNY and CUNY students.

Assemblymember Kevin Cahill (D- Ulster, Dutchess) said the measure is projected to reduce $3 billion from the deficit for 2009-2010 and enables the state to end the current fiscal year with a balanced budget at the end of March.

"The Legislature was forced to make some difficult decisions," Cahill said of the budgetary actions.

The tuition hike was first proposed as part of Governor Paterson's two-year $5.2 billion deficit reduction plan and outlined in November 2008. Both the SUNY and CUNY Boards of Trustees approved the governor's proposal in November, as well.

Last week Senator John Bonacic (R-Mt. Hope) issued a scathing assessment of the plan to raise SUNY tuition and then use that money to offset the general fund deficit. He said the increase amounts to "a tax on the middle class, negotiated in secret, and designed to hurt families who pay SUNY tuition."

Bonacic said he had already received calls from SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Delhi, which stand to lose millions of dollars under the governor's plan. The senator said the institutions "are not only important colleges, but large employers and major economic engines in the Hudson Valley and Catskills."

He argues that the governor's plan will cost these campuses millions of dollars, money "that would have re-circulated in our communities time and time again."

Cahill echoed Bonacic's concern and said he disapproved of the decision to unilaterally raise student tuition and the subsequent "sweep" of those funds to fill the New York State budget gap for the current fiscal year.

SUNY New Paltz spokesman Eric Gullickson said the legislative vote represents "a misdirected and unfair tax on students, as most of this tuition is not going to the college or SUNY at all, but for other state expenses."

"Had the tuition sweep been a standalone proposition, I surely would have voted against it," Cahill said, "Instead, it was just a part of the $1.3 billion package that was presented to ward off a serious and potentially crippling fiscal calamity."

Cahill said that he and other SUNY advocates were successful in getting 10 percent of the $76 million tuition increase rededicated to the State University, but he admitted that 90% of the money remains committed to deficit reduction.

Gullickson said the redirection of funds is "just wrong" and that he "hopes the legislature will take a different stance in considering the 2010 budget and allow campuses to keep 100% of students' tuition dollars."

Cahill said the assembly's action was "far from ideal" and that he is "particularly troubled by the decision to increase college tuition in the absence of a clear and meaningful benefit for students attending our public universities."

He said that "SUNY represents the backbone of our economy in New York and it is vital that we guarantee that our students and institutions have the resources they need to succeed and thrive."

The legislature faces further challenges as it continues to work on the 2009-10 state budget. Plans to close the deficit include further budget cuts, but the state anticipates new revenue streams and an infusion of funds from the federal stimulus package.

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