PROPOSED COMMUNITY COLLEGE FUNDING CUTS 'CONCERNING' FOR ECC - Ryan Whalen, Rochester Spectrum

The governor's proposed budget includes a flat funding formula for the state's 30 community colleges based on the number of full-time students, but thanks to declining enrollment, that amounts to a roughly an $18 million cut from the previous year. "Community colleges are kind of in a tough situation now because the Excelsior Scholarship is out there and now we're losing students that would normally have gone to SUNY Erie to Buffalo State College, to UB, to Brockport, to four-year institutions," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, D, said. "The problem with SUNY Erie is it's basically been covering budget shortfalls with regards to lack of revenue from student tuition costs, increasing tuition as well as its fund balance. Well it's reached a point where it can't do that anymore." http://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/politics/2018/01/17/ecc-erie-community-college-poloncarz-cuomo-budget-accreditation-funding