“I commend Gov. Cuomo and the state Legislature for their outstanding support of SUNY in this year’s budget.

“A tuition plan, combined with maintenance of effort by the state, will enable SUNY Empire to enhance the high-quality education we provide to our students through more consistent and reliable funding for the teaching, research and scholarship of our faculty, as well as student and academic support services.

“Additional resources for capital construction means our facilities will properly support all the efforts of our students, faculty and staff.

“The Excelsior Scholarship provides significantly enhanced access and affordability to public higher education for New York's full-time students, increasing degree completion and putting 'public' back in public higher education.

“It also now opens the door to exploring new ways of incorporating nontraditional and part-time students more fully into New York's top-in-the-nation, affordable public colleges and universities.”