The New York State fiscal year 2023 budget will put aside $1.5 billion to invest in SUNY and CUNY over the next five years.

Gov. Kathy Hochul allocated funds for hiring full-time faculty, the New York State Tuition Assistance Program and increased support for needy students.

“We applaud the budget proposals by Governor Hochul that will allow CUNY to hire hundreds of additional full-time faculty and provide students with more than $62 million in increased tuition assistance — two vital elements of the University’s mission to provide high-quality education and ensure its accessibility to New Yorkers of all backgrounds and means,” CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez said in a statement.

The executive budget will invest more than $300 million in SUNY and CUNY operations each year over the next five years.

CUNY and SUNY will receive $53 million each to hire additional full-time faculty at both community and senior colleges. In the briefing book for the 2023 budget, Hochul estimated that this investment will fund an estimated 880 new full-time faculty members, including 540 at CUNY and 340 at SUNY.

“It will allow for greater stability in course offerings, enhance faculty-student mentoring and create a critical career pathway for our adjunct faculty,” Matos Rodríguez said about reducing reliance on part-time professors.

The 2023 budget will expand the program by adding $150 million for part time students who are enrolled for six or more credits and were not previously eligible for TAP. This makes up an estimated 75,000 New Yorkers.

Additionally, Hochul allocated funds in a significant effort to close the “TAP gap,” which is the difference between what the state pays for TAP at SUNY and CUNY — up to $5,000 — and the actual cost of tuition, which reaches almost $7,000.

This discrepancy between the funding that SUNY and CUNY institutions receive and their operating expenses has created a deficit that resulted in campus-wide budget cuts and hiring freezes.

The funds allocated to dissolve the TAP gap will “bolster CUNY’s commitment to its historic mission as an engine of social and economic mobility for all New Yorkers,” Matos Rodríguez said.

In addition to the funding for hiring new teachers and closing the TAP gap, the budget allocates a 10% increase in funds to support needy students. The $24 million increase is for “educationally disadvantaged students” in education opportunity programs and training centers by CUNY, SUNY and private colleges.

“It’s time for a better, fairer, and more inclusive version of the American Dream,” Hochul said. “I’m calling it the New York Dream. We will make that New York Dream real – and ensure that it can be realized by every single New Yorker.”