CUNY salaries are up along with tuition

CUNY and SUNY employees are apparently a lucky bunch as it turns out that they live off the highest paid state employees.

That’s right, according to the New York Post, out of all the state employees of New York, the top 50 salaries belonged to CUNY and SUNY employees.

47 of the 50 employees are SUNY employees and three belong to CUNY with each staff member receiving or surpassing a $500,000 yearly salary.

And it doesn’t stop there. An Empire Center for Public Policy analysis uncovered 1,797 government personnel made more than $179,000 last year.

To put that into perspective, Governor Cuomo makes $179,000 yearly and when information came out that all these state employees were making more money than him, actions were taken. Governor Cuomo has since written a letter to both CUNY and SUNY chancellors urging massive salaries to be cut.

But it goes on even further. A report shows that former CUNY Chancellor Mathew Goldstein received $546,394 in 2015 — a number so high that it actually exceeds the current Chancellor’s salary. Mathew Goldstein retired in 2013 and still receiving over half a million dollars annually.

The National Center of Education Statistics released reports showing that CUNY and SUNY students have the highest overhead costs out of any public state or city institutions in the country with CUNY costs being $4,634 per student and SUNY costs being $3,804.

So if I understand everything correctly, salaries have been increasing and reaching ridiculous amounts for employees of CUNY and SUNY while tuition is set to increase for students.

Hunter students have to deal with a lot of shit, not least of which having to pay for our own Metrocards, and working while studying to cover the ridiculous cost of living in the city. Now we have to endure tuition hikes while CUNY and SUNY pay no attention.

How am I supposed to take my college seriously if they don’t show me an inkling of respect? And people haven’t been quiet about this. Adjuncts and students both have protested CUNY, but only until Governor Cuomo found out that other state employees were making so much more than he was, that some sort of action has been taken.  At this point it just burns to hand over my money to Hunter because I know that only a small fraction of it is actually going into the right hands.

What are the next steps and what else can we do? Nothing but wait for some more wealthy people to get jealous of other wealthy people who make more money than them. In the meantime, get ready for another tuition hike.