By SARI ZEIDLER
Learning to balance responsibilities while exploring interests or struggling to boil water for pasta while fretting over a thesis afford undergraduates opportunities to grow.
For a number of Bellmore-Merrick high school seniors, however, the chance to enjoy college's myriad lessons may be in jeopardy. Increasingly competitive admission standards and a $620 tuition hike -- with future increases likely to follow -- has the safety net of the "affordable" SUNY system seeming like less of a sure thing and more of a challenge.
With just an hour to spare between school and her part-time job, Randi Horowitz of Bellmore explained that a SUNY school is her only financially viable option for college next year. She and her friend Emma Jardins, both seniors at Mepham High School, applied to schools for similar reasons. For Horowitz, finding a school with a solid psychology program is key. Jardins researched schools with strong journalism and psychology majors. For each, tuition is also a critical factor -- making enrollment at a SUNY more of a necessity rather than a choice.
"My guidance counselor stressed for me to apply to schools out of the state, but I couldn't afford it. I couldn't apply to them," said Horowitz, adding that she will rely on loans and state aid to supplement her own contributions.
Jardins's parents will pay her tuition, but she hopes to earn a scholarship to help ease the financial burden and widen her range of choices. "[My parents] took a lot of colleges off my list because they're so expensive," she said.
As families across New York state grapple with a crumbling economy, the girls' situation is shared by many high school seniors, stirring up fierce competition for entrance into SUNY schools for the fall 2009 semester. The SUNYs are often far less expensive than private colleges. Tuition, room and board at a typical SUNY runs roughly $18,400 a year, compared with private colleges, which can cost $25,000 to $50,000 per year.
Calhoun High School guidance counselor Cindy Tellekamp said students hoping to attend a SUNY are being hit by a "double whammy." At the same time that more high school seniors are applying to the SUNY schools, many state universities and colleges are upgrading their admissions standards. SUNYs like Binghamton, Geneseo and Albany are already considered among the most competitive public schools in the Northeast.
As the number of applicants increases, "the schools automatically become more competitive, so some of the kids we would traditionally expect to get into a certain school aren't getting in," said Tellekamp.
Horowitz said, "Everybody is applying to SUNY because of the economy. If I don't get in there, how am I going to get in anywhere?"
Tellekamp believes there's "still a SUNY school for everyone," though many college-bound seniors have had to reassess where they might be headed next year. Calhoun graduate enrollment at SUNY Farmingdale, a school Tellekamp called an unpopular choice in previous years, nearly doubled from 2007 to 2008. "Farmingdale is appearing to be much more competitive than it has in the past. Once we saw that, it was our first inclination that all the SUNYs were going to have the same problems, so to speak," she said, pointing to SUNY Brockport and SUNY Cortland as schools that have grown significantly more competitive in recent years.
A decision by the SUNY Board of Trustees to increase tuition in two $310 increments in January and September next year may also play a role in changing the landscape of students' SUNY destinations. Eileen Connolly, the John F. Kennedy High School vice principal and member of the Directors of Guidance in Nassau County, said the tuition hike might impede the ability of freshmen to go away to school.
"I think that kids who may have thought about going away or are undecided about their major may decide to stay closer to home at Nassau Community College or SUNY Farmingdale," said Connolly.
Reactions to the potential increase have been mixed. Connolly said the proposal has not caused much of a stir at Kennedy, but Tellekamp said parents of Calhoun students are "very concerned."
Horowitz and Jardins were disappointed to hear of the increase, but didn't expect it to affect their decision-making significantly. "If you can't afford private school, you have to pay the $600 to go to a SUNY," said Horowitz.
Guidance in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District has been tailored to help students have the college experience they are seeking despite the current economic difficulties. Tellekamp said there are a dozen community colleges in the SUNY system that offer dorm accommodations, and she has suggested to students who are worried about getting into the four-year SUNY of their choice to consider a two-year college instead. "I don't have any students who have actually taken that route, but they are discussing it," she said.
To help students up their competitive edge, Calhoun is offering the ACT exam, a standardized test that can be used in lieu of a Scholastic Aptitude Test, for the first time this fall. Unlike the SAT, which evaluates reading, mathematics and reasoning skills, the ACT is a curriculum-based test that covers English, math, reading and science, and has an optional writing section.
"We've had a lot more meetings with senior parents now than I have in previous years," said Tellekamp. "Parents are concerned, and they want to feel reassured. We have people in the district, parents in the district, who are losing their jobs, and these are all the realities we have to deal with."
SUNY stats
SUNY at Albany
Undergraduate enrollment: 11, 620
Male to female ratio: 50/50
SAT critical reading range: 520-600
SAT math range: 540-620
Financial aid: 54 percent
SUNY Binghamton
Undergraduate enrollment: 11,430
Male to female ratio: 52/48
SAT critical reading range: 570-650
SAT math range: 610-690
Financial aid: 46 percent
SUNY Buffalo
Undergraduate enrollment: 17,201
Male to female ratio: 54/46
SAT critical reading range: 500-600
SAT math range: 540-640
Financial aid: 48 percent
SUNY Geneseo
Undergraduate enrollment: 5,230
Male to female ratio: 41/59
SAT critical reading range: 600-670
SAT math range: 620-680
Financial aid: 45 percent
SUNY Stony Brook
Undergraduate enrollment: 13, 655
Male to female ratio: 50/50
SAT critical reading range: 510-610
SAT math range: 570-670
Financial aid: 56 percent
Comments about this story? Szeidler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
