By ALLISSA KLINE
akline@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1612

Some of the region's public colleges and universities are looking forward to filling long-vacant positions and creating new jobs now that state lawmakers have approved a five-year predictable tuition policy.

Leaders at four State University of New York institutions this week praised the week-old NY-SUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program Act. They say it allows students to plan for tuition increases for the next five years, and they also like that there may be enough additional tuition revenue generated at each campus to fill open positions and hire new faculty. The precise dollar amounts of new revenues aren't yet known, as campuses await student financial aid information.

Officials at the University at Buffalo announced the most ambitious plans, calling for the hiring of 300 new faculty to work throughout the institution, with special focus on new hires for the School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. UB - as part of a five-year, $375 million project - plans to move and expand its medical school from South Campus to the downtown Buffalo medical corridor, aided by $35 million in construction funding it received in the bill.

"This (legislation) gives us the resources to hire faculty, which is critical to building excellence and moving the medical school," UB President Satish Tripathi said. "In my mind, what we want is to move to the next stage ... and with this bill, we actually get to the next stage. And that's important."

The tuition bill, which affects SUNY's four-year comprehensive colleges and research centers, allows campuses to raise in-state tuition no more than $300 per year for the next five years. SUNY's four research centers, including UB, would be able to raise out-of-state tuition by 10 percent each year for five years and charge an additional $75 student fee.

Tuition at SUNY's four-year colleges and universities is currently $4,970 and could rise to $6,470 for in-state students by the 2015-16 school year. Tuition rates vary at SUNY's community colleges, as those institutions are allowed to set their own rates.

UB officials expect the additional tuition, combined with the 10 percent increase in out-of-state tuition and the new $75 fee, to bring in $9.5 million in new funding. The majority of those funds, an anticipated $4.5 million, would come from a single source: the $300 annual tuition increase.

SUNY Fredonia estimates that $1.1 million in net proceeds will be generated from new tuition rates for the Chautauqua County institution, according to Virginia Horvath, vice president for academic affairs. Eventually, some of the money derived from new tuition rates could be used to fill some of the college's 40-plus vacant positions, she said.

"We've been leaving positions vacant and everything's just been on hold," she said. "A lot of people have worked hard to maintain quality of education, but it's been stressful for people."

At Buffalo State College, the largest comprehensive school in the SUNY system, an estimated $3 million in new revenue could be realized with the tuition increase, President Aaron Podolefsky said. Budget shortfalls in recent years forced the campus to leave 51 positions vacant, he said.

The campus, though it isn't "out of the woods," now faces a smaller budget decrease for the 2011-12 school year than it planned for, Podolefsky said. Many of the open positions have been filled by adjunct faculty who work part-time, on a temporary basis, for the institution. The college doesn't yet know how many of those vacant positions it could fill.

Some of the anticipated revenue won't be realized at the campuses because it will be used to fill in gaps in the state's Tuition Assistance Program for financially needy students. That's part of the reason Alfred State College President John Anderson isn't sure how much new revenue the Southern Tier institution will receive, though he guesses it will range between $600,000 and $700,000.

It faced a $1 million budget gap for the coming academic year and considered dipping into reserves to avoid making deep cuts in programs and faculty, he said.

"There probably won't be any dramatic change in our budget planning until things get sorted out, but that's not to say we don't welcome this," Anderson said. "Probably the most significant impact of this for us is that it will allow us to plan better in the future because we know there's going to be a revenue stream."

Now that one major hurdle has been crossed, some leaders are looking to additional areas they say need to be reformed. Anderson would like to see legislation allowing public-private partnerships, a component of last year's proposed Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, while Podolefsky hopes SUNY institutions get more state support - nogt less - in coming years.

"If the Legislature really wants to improve the quality of education, it needs to go back to giving state support," he said. "If you starve the university, it's like starving the engine in your car. The car isn't running because you're starving the engine."