$8000 tuition hike for SUNY Medical Colleges

[FightSunyTuitionHikes]

New York state legislature just passed a bill that will allow the SUNY Medical Colleges (Downstate, Upstate, Stonybrook, and Buffalo) to raise the yearly tuition $2000 a year for the next four years! They also even agreed to a retroactive yearly tuition hike of $2000 for this academic year! Even though the bill has been passed after our fall semester tuition has been paid for, we are still going to be billed for last semester. A tuition total of ~$20,000 does not distinguish the SUNYs from other private schools. Many of us chose to go to a state school because the tuition is cheaper. As a first year, I wish that we were informed of this during the application process. Surely this tuition bill was in the works well before then. Hopefully this year's crop of applicatns are fully informed of the scope of this new bill.

Please voice your complaints to :

The Honorable George E. Pataki
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Senator KennethP. LaValle
Chairman of the Higher Education Committee
806 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247

Dr. Harvey F. Wachsman
SUNY Board of Trustees
The Law Offices of Harvey F. Wachsman, MD, JD, LLP
175 East Shore Road
Great Neck, NY 11023

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[turtleboard]

I know it's the buzz around my campus (Downstate), but have you read that this tuition hike in any newspaper?

Very interesting. Thank God I'm a third-year.

 

[BushBaby]

I am not in med school but I am applying this year. As a NYS resident and future med student, I will be writing to the people listed above. One of the reasons I am apply to SUNY is because of the low costs, now that they are taking that away....why should I bother applying?

 

[riverweb]

Yes, it's happened. We have already paid for the increase in this year's tuition at Spring registration (at Downstate.)

It will actually be cheaper, in many cases, to go to a private school, because they offer grants, etc., that SUNY schools don't have. Bummer.

 

[Transposon]

What a joy to be a part of the SUNY system! Our state gives us NOTHING. Other states help their own a lot more.

 

[SicVic]

I say this is a worthy fight!! Our generation should start standing up for something(in this case unfair increase and deappreciation of the SUNY system)and be reckoned with!

 

[turtleboard]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by riverweb:
•Yes, it's happened. We have already paid for the increase in this year's tuition at Spring registration (at Downstate.)
•••••Yes, I realize that we did pay the increase this past registration period, but I didn't know that they'd be increasing the tuition NEXT year too. I know that the MS2s, during their student-faculty show, made mention of this, but I thought it was part of the joke/exaggeration of everything during those events.

Oh well... Thank God I'm a third-year.

 

[TAP]

To the original poster, can you please post the source of this information. I want to write the appropriate letters, but want to learn more about it before I do.

Thanks

 

[pj02007]

hey if you're in NY national guard, will they pay only for the suny, or even if i go to a private school in NY? and will they pay at all if i go out of state?
what about the GI Bill?

and if an out of stater goes to vermont, how long before he may become a vermont state resident?

thanks

 

[groundhog]

You guys are behind the curve on this issue. It started in Michigan and Virginia and has begun to spread across the USA. Here is the deal. State legislatures are being forced to ration a limited amount of tax revenues amongst an increasing number of programs. Some influential folks have begun to ask why the educations of physicians, dentists, and lawyers should be subsidized by the taxpayers when those who graduate from such programs will likely earn incomes that are much higher than the average citizen. U of Mich and U of Virginia responded to such criticism by increasing tuition for med/dent/law school to a level that is more in line to that charged by the private schools. And guess what? The schools were still able to fill all of their openings with very competitive candidates. Hang on. I think you are in line for "sticker shock."

 

[pj02007]

looked at the residensy statistics, and suny schools are not that good at competitive residensies, like dermatology, orthopaedics, and neurosurgery. stony brook had only 1 student go to ortho surgery and 0 to dermatology. even though stony brook hospital has those residensies available.

 

[nyskindr]

I dont think you can make a judgement as to the chances of getting a particular residency from a given school by looking at only one years matchlist.There is some variability from year to year depending on the specialty interests of the graduates. Stony Brook has a very small class ..~100 students and its a place that pushes primary care.I know of quite a few Stony Brook grads in Dermatology.As far as Downstate goes it has a big Derm program and sends regularly 3-5 students a year to Derm and a good number to Ortho,Optho,Urology.One of the pluses of Downstate is that is has large residency programs in all of these fields and gives a strong edge to its students in filling them.

 

[Castro Viejo]

I'm not going to argue that the University of Michigan is stronger than SUNY, but if you're gonna compare apples and oranges, realize that not everyone agrees with the notion that Stony Brook is the strongest SUNY medical school. And to cite the fact that very few of their seniors go onto "competitive" residencies such as Derm, Ortho, ENT, Neurosurg, etc., is nonsense given the fact that a larger proportion of their seniors go into primary care residencies every year than at the other three SUNY medical schools.

There are reasons for why a particular schools match list turns out a certain way.

 

[TAP]

Looking at rankings based on reputation with residency directors, Stonybrook is not the highest, Buffalo is. Stonybrook is a relatively new med school (1970's) whereas Buffalo is a private institution that was bought by the SUNY system. There is no comparison between the two school. Sure Buffalo is a crappy city, but the clinical training in the area is superior to all of the other SUNY's, including Downstate.

 

[Barin]

Hey,
Is there are really NO grants at SUNY schools and you'll have to pay these 12k no matter how low your family income was?

thanks.