Students, educators and advocates call for increased funding for CUNY

James Davis, President of CUNY’s faculty and staff union, the Professional Staff Congress, joined the calls for increased funding for the CUNY system alongside CUNY students, faculty and advocates at City Hall on March 17.

Brennan LaBrie/ The Chief

Students, faculty and advocates gathered at City Hall on Tuesday to demand the city boost funding and fully staff the City University of New York (CUNY) system. They were joined by Rita Joseph, chair of the city council’s committee on higher education, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and union leaders.

The speakers represented a coalition of student, labor and community organizations working together as the CUNY Rising Alliance. The Alliance’s CUNY For All campaign calls on the City Council and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to fill hundreds of empty staff positions in the system’s 26 colleges, provide free transit for students and expand student success programs. 

“We're here today because CUNY students deserve more than underfunded campuses and barriers to their success,” said Zaakirah Rahman, coordinator of CUNY Rising Alliance and a 2023 City College graduate.

The city provides about three-quarters of CUNY’s funding, but significant budget reductions under Mayor Eric Adams cut about 400 faculty and staff positions, said James Davis, President of the Professional Staff Congress, CUNY’s faculty and staff union.

These vacancies sent a ripple through the system, Davis told The Chief, resulting not only in smaller departments but also fewer mentors, counselors and advisors.

Last May, Adams restored all CUNY funding cut during his tenure, totalling $96 million in operating funds and $30 million for student success and retention programs. The Alliance wants Mayor Mamdani and the city council to use these funds to immediately fill vacant positions and then add even more jobs.

In total, they’re requesting $360 million to hire almost 2,900 community college professors, 352 advisors and 119 mental health counselors, as well as over $100 million to expand student support programs.

“For working parents, immigrants and students pushing forward against the odds, our public university system remains a beacon of hope—and we intend to keep it that way," Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for Mamdani, said in a statement. "Mayor Mamdani understands that expanding access to higher education strengthens our workforce and grows our economy. And as wealth continues to concentrate at the top, he believes must ask the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations to pay their fair share—so we can keep investing in institutions like CUNY and ensure New York remains a city where anyone can build a good life.”

Staffing gaps have become increasingly acute as CUNY’s student population rebounds from a dramatic drop after the pandemic, driven by student success programs that are running on lean and overworked staff, Davis said.

The filled positions must be full-time, he added, as job security allows educators to commit to supporting and building relationships with students. 

“The research is very clear that contact with full-time faculty is better for student retention and graduation and success rates,” Davis said. 

In order for students to thrive, they need to feel safe — and boosting mental health and counseling staff is essential to that, said Akkeem Polack, the chairperson of CUNY’s University Student Senate and a senior at York College.

Expanding access through free transportation

The Alliance’s other central demand is free transportation for CUNY students, something already provided to the city’s public K-12 population.

“For too many CUNY students, the biggest barrier to success is simply getting to class,” Polack said.

College students need free transit just as much as their younger peers, said Melissa Clarke, New York Policy Director at uAspire and a CUNY alum. The majority of CUNY students commute to school, largely by public transport, and can pay up to $1,000 a year in OMNY fees, according to a report from the Center for an Urban Future.

“Transportation should never be a reason a student misses class, drops a course or begins to question whether college is possible,” Clarke said.

The Alliance is asking the city for $700,000 to fund half of a pilot program that will provide free OMNY passes to “high needs” students like those with children or disabilities. The state would fund the other half.

Boosting an “Engine of Economic Mobility”

“CUNY has always been one of New York City’s greatest engines of economic mobility,” Clarke said. Joseph and Williams both echoed this, and expressed a desire to see the system become free for students, as it was before the 1976 fiscal crisis. 

CUNY schools make up five of the top ten colleges nationwide on CollegeNET’s 2025 Social Mobility Index, reflecting their success in providing affordable education to low-income students and helping them land well-paying jobs.

“CUNY is a pathway for working class New Yorkers, immigrants and first generation students to build a better life for themselves and their families,” Joseph said. “But let's be clear, CUNY cannot continue to deliver on that promise if it is underfunded and understaffed.”

Williams called his years at York College and Brooklyn College “formative” for him as an advocate and politician, and stressed the public benefits of funding CUNY.

“The money you put in CUNY, you'll get back exponentially on the back end,” Williams said. The city managed to fund the system in harder times, he added: “If we could find the money during the Great Depression, we can find the money now.”

During his campaign, Mamdani promised to “massively invest” in CUNY to boost faculty staffing, improve facilities and provide free tuition and OMNY cards for its students.

In a statement, a spokesperson for City Council Speaker Julie Menin, said that once the Council concludes its preliminary budget hearings, it will release a response containing the body's priorities, including on CUNY funding.

Next Friday, CUNY Rising Alliance members will continue their movement with a march from Brooklyn Borough Hall to City Hall.