Governor Hochul Announces Funding for SUNY Community Colleges to Prepare the Health Care Workforce, Meet Student Mental Health Needs

$8 Million Operating Increase in Enacted State Budget is First in Nine Years

SUNY Chancellor King Joined Broome and Binghamton Leaders, Students, Faculty, Elected Officials, and Business Partners to Address the Significant Investment

Governor Kathy Hochul announced $8 million in recurring annual funding for the State University of New York’s 30 community colleges — the first increase in nearly a decade — to advance health care and mental health goals for New York State and the SUNY system. $5 million will be used to support investments by community colleges to increase enrollment in and completion of health care educational programs, supporting the Governor’s goal of increasing the State’s health care workforce by 20 percent over the next 5 years. The remaining $3 million will be used to expand mental health support for SUNY students, which is consistently identified as a critical campus need.

“This investment in our community colleges is another massive step to building the best public education institution in the country, meeting the needs of our students to succeed in high demand jobs across our state,” Governor Hochul said. “Leading in health care is critical for New Yorkers, and this funding is setting up more students to succeed with strong academic programs and resources for their own mental health and wellbeing.”

Healthcare Workforce Investments

To meet Governor Hochul’s ambitious goal and work to find solutions to address the shortage of health care professionals, SUNY convened the "Future of Health Care Workforce Task Force," which focused on expanding SUNY's educational capacity in health care professions, strengthening the pathways and pipelines for students interested in health care, and innovating and aligning education with health care industry needs.

Each campus will receive a maximum of $350,000 with a minimum award of $75,000 from the $5 million recurring health care workforce investments, which will help SUNY’s community colleges:

• Hire faculty and expand or establish new healthcare programs;
• Enhance simulation spaces;
• Establish new partnerships/pathways with other SUNY campus health programs; and
• Create partnerships between the campuses and the communities they serve, including high schools, local organizations, BOCES and campus-employer partnerships.

Mental Health Investments

Mental health is a significant challenge for many college students across the nation and SUNY. The 2023 annual national Healthy Minds Survey, which surveys college students, reported students deal with depression and anxiety at a rate of 41 percent and 36 percent respectively. About two-thirds of SUNY community colleges currently have counseling centers and some use tele-counseling services to break down barriers to mental health care and address local shortages of mental health professionals.

Each community college will receive $100,000 annually from the $3 million mental health investments to:

• Hire new mental health professionals and staff;
• Provide new or expand on virtual tele-health counseling efforts;
• Provide wellness initiatives embedded in workforce development and/or college-to career transition programming; and
• Develop or enhancing initiatives to destigmatize seeking mental health support.

About The State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit www.suny.edu.