City University of New York - History

History

CUNY's history dates back to the formation of the Free Academy in 1847 by Townsend Harris. The school was fashioned as "a Free Academy for the purpose of extending the benefits of education gratuitously to persons who have been pupils in the common schools of the city and county of New York." The Free Academy later became the City College of New York, the oldest institution among the CUNY colleges. Hunter College – so-named in 1914, originally Female Normal and High School and later the Normal College – had existed since 1870, and later expanded into the Bronx in the early 20th century with what became Herbert Lehman College, but CCNY and Hunter resisted merging.

In 1926, in response to the growth in population of the city, the New York State legislature created the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York to integrate, coordinate and expand the institutions of higher education in the city. During the period the Board existed, Brooklyn College (1930), Queens College (1937) and a number of other four-year colleges and two-year community colleges were created.

In 1961, Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed the bill that formally created the City University of New York to integrate these institutions, and a new graduate school, together into a coordinate system of higher education for the city, and by 1979, the Board of Higher Education had become the Board of Trustees of the CUNY. Eventually, the system grew to include seven senior colleges, four hybrid schools, seven community colleges, as well as graduate schools and professional programs.

CUNY has historically served a diverse student body, especially those excluded from or unable to afford private universities. Its four-year colleges offered a high quality, tuition-free education to the poor, the working class and the immigrants of New York City who met the grade requirements for matriculated status. Many Jewish academics and intellectuals studied and taught at CUNY in the post-World War I era when Ivy League universities, such as Yale University, discriminated against Jews. The City College of New York has had a reputation of being "the Harvard of the proletariat." Over its history, CUNY colleges, particularly CCNY, have been involved in various political movements.

As the city's population—and public college enrollment—grew during the early 20th century and the city struggled for resources, the municipal colleges slowly began adopting selective tuition, also known as instructional fees, for a handful of courses and programs. During the Great Depression, with funding for the public colleges severely constrained, limits were imposed on the size of the colleges' free Day Session, and tuition was imposed upon students deemed "competent" but not academically qualified for the day program. Most of these "limited matriculation" students enrolled in the Evening Session, and paid tuition.

Over time, tuition for limited-matriculated students became an important source of system revenues. In fall 1957, for example, nearly 36,000 attended Hunter, Brooklyn, Queens and City Colleges for free, but another 24,000 paid tuition of up to $300 a year — the equivalent of $2,411.98 in 2011. Undergraduate tuition and other student fees in 1957 comprised 17 percent of the colleges' $46.8 million in revenues, about $7.74 million — a figure equivalent to $62.4 million in 2011 buying power.

Demand in the United States for higher education rapidly grew each decade after World War II into the 1970s. The increased demand for limited college slots had the effect in New York City of increasing the competitiveness of the city's system of higher education. By the end of the 1960s, admission to CUNY's flagship City College had become highly competitive.

In 1969, a group of Black and Puerto Rican students occupied City College demanding the integration of CUNY, which at the time had an overwhelmingly white student body. The occupation spread to other CUNY campuses, forcing the Board of Trustees to implement a ground-breaking new admissions policy. The doors to CUNY were opened wide to all those demanding entrance, assuring all high school graduates, despite possible inadequacies of preparation, entrance to the University. This policy was known as "open admissions". Remedial education, to supplement the training of under-prepared students, became a significant part of CUNY's offerings.

The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. Whereas 20,000 freshmen had matriculated in one CUNY institution or another in 1969, more than 35,000 showed up for registration in the fall of 1970. Forty percent of these newcomers to the senior colleges were open-admissions students. The proportion of Black and Hispanic students in the entering class nearly tripled. That same year, 1970, free tuition was extended to all CUNY students.

In fall 1976, however, amid the turmoil of New York City's dire fiscal crisis, the free tuition policy was discontinued under pressure from the federal government, the financial community that had a role in rescuing the city from bankruptcy, and New York State, which would take over the funding of CUNY's senior colleges. Tuition, which had always been charged at the State University of New York, was instituted at all CUNY colleges.

Following these developments, CUNY students were added to the state's need-based Tuition Assistance Program, or TAP, which had originally been created to help private colleges. Full-time students who met the income eligibility criteria were permitted to receive TAP, ensuring for the first time that financial hardship would deprive no CUNY student of a college education. Within a few years, the federal government would create its own need-based program, known as Pell Grants, providing the neediest students with a tuition-free college education. By 2011, nearly six of ten full- time undergraduates qualified for a tuition-free education at CUNY due in large measure to state, federal and CUNY financial aid programs.

CUNY's enrollment dipped after tuition was re-established. Students who had flocked to the University as a cost-free, educational alternative to the State University or a private college, no longer had a financial reason to choose it. Their enrollment at CUNY dropped precipitously; there were further enrollment declines through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

CUNY's prestige also declined in the 1970s and 1980s. Under a new chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, and facing pressure from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, CUNY ended its open admissions policy to the University's four-year colleges in 1999. Critics had cautioned that the policy change could lead to a drop in enrollment of minority students at CUNY's four-year institutions.

CUNY officials reported that enrollment at its senior colleges increased 10.5% from 1999 to 2002, however. Mean SAT scores of admitted freshmen also rose. CUNY reported that the number of African-American students at its senior colleges had increased in the same time period, while changes in the proportions of other ethnic groups were "minimal." The University reported that two-thirds of its entering class were minority students.

CUNY students who are not directly admitted to the senior colleges because they do not meet academic admissions standards can choose to enroll in an associate degree program at one of CUNY’s community colleges, take part in "immersion" programs offered in the summer and winter months, find public or private tutoring, or participate in the one-semester "Prelude to Success" program taught by community college faculty at senior colleges. The graduates of the community college programs then earn admission to the senior colleges.