When The NEST Editor-In-Chief interviewed Chancellor King, we brought up a series of topics surrounding SUNY’s vision for the future, asking, “How is SUNY adapting its educational approach in the post-pandemic landscape?” King said that the biggest shift that it created was a higher degree of comfort for faculty and students with online learning. That being said, pre-pandemic till now, SUNY has seen a much higher percentage of students who are taking at least one class that is online or hybrid. This has provided the opportunity to see that there is student interest in those kinds of flexible online opportunities. These are often at the community colleges that have hybrid classes, which are set up so that class is in person, but it is also accessible by zoom. This is useful for example if child care falls through. King expanded by saying, “That’s important because I think it creates more flexibility and opportunity for students.” Another big shift that SUNY has seen occur, which was already true, but has become more prominent now, is mental health support on campus’, which is still seeing lingering effects of isolation and more from the pandemic. In 2023, SUNY was able to get 10 million dollars to support extended services at the 4 year campus’. Last year in 2024, there was talks about state funding for community colleges, discussing 3 million dollars to expand mental health services.

After that we talked about “What is your long-term vision for making SUNY the best public university system in the nation?” King talked about the four pillars of SUNY, which starts with student success, including wanting to make sure students know about opportunities, that students have support, and that SUNY helps deliver for students and families. The second pillar surrounds research and scholarship, including foundations for higher education, wanting to double research across the SUNY system, increasing support, funding, and staff. The third pillar surrounds diversity, equity and inclusion, wanting to make sure SUNY is serving all of NY, making sure all classrooms are places that students are bringing diverse experiences and perspectives. The fourth pillar is centered on economic development/upward mobility, SUNY has had a huge role to play in New York State’s economic development, wanting to help grow the state’s economy. SUNY aims to help the state make the transition to renewable energy, producing cutting edge research in fields like ai, quantum, and more, hoping that will drive createn of successful new business.

Following that discussion, we discussed, “Can you elaborate on the success and future plans for the ASAP|ACE programs across SUNY campuses?” King started off by saying this is a great thing, which is being shown in randomized controlled trials to meaningly improve persistence and completion. These trials showed that the ASAP program could double community college completions compared to similar students not enrolled in the program. SUNY’s scale of this program is 25 campuses, including ASAP 2 year, and ACE 4 year locations. SUNY currently has 4,300 in the two programs across 25 campuses. SUNY has a budget that will continue to serve 4,300 students in these programs, but also help to grow the programs to serve 10,000.

The next topic discussed was affordability and accessibility, “How has the expansion of the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) impacted student accessibility and affordability?” King said that last year when discussing an increase, the projection was more than 40,000 students within SUNY that would see an increase as a result of this expansion, meaning eligible ability, doubling minimum, and more. Then I asked, “How is SUNY addressing the challenge of student debt?” King responded by saying, “You know, the good news, SUNY is pretty affordable.” Currently, 50% of SUNY undergrad’s go tuition free because of the pell grant and TAP. SUNY has been able to keep tuition reasonable, which is much more affordable than SUNY’s peer institutions. Therefore, King claims that the level of debt, even for students who borrow, is still very modest.

Additionally, we discussed sustainability goals, discussing, “How is SUNY contributing to New York State’s renewable energy goals through its research and campus initiatives?” The SUNY STEAM climate action plan has a variety of components, which includes facilities across the state: 40% of New York State owned buildings are SUNY campuses. According to King, SUNY is on track to achieve its target of a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, to hit the goal in the states climate law, and further a 85% reduction by 2050. King is quoted by saying, “We have a lot of work to do.” SUNY has asked for an increase in capital funding for support in this. Part of this work is about buildings, and part is about research, batteries, and atmospheric science at UALBANY to think about climate resilience. King said that following these changes there will be a need to train the workforce for green jobs. SUNY has an off-shore wind institute that is led by SUNY Farmingdale. This is helping set up programs on different campuses for training in offshore wind. There will also be a need for educational programs designed to get students to think about causes surrounding the environment.

Finally we discussed, “What innovative sustainability projects are SUNY campuses implementing that could serve as models for other institutions?” King stated that SUNY is doing a lot of work in Solar, and UV, “I made a really big commitment to Solar, and we hope that that is an example for others.” SUNY is moving a number of buildings over to geothermal, which has started at SUNY Oneonta. King claims that SUNY is hoping to get additional state funding this year for a couple of geothermal network projects. Additionally, geothermal systems need all of the property owners to agree, to participate. However, because SUNY has campuses, King sees this as a possible example to the state on the positive impact of moving to geothermal networks. Finally, King discussed that SUNY just got a 15 million dollar grant for charging stations across the campuses, which is currently frozen by the federal government, but SUNY is hopeful that if it comes through, it will allow for the addition of more charging stations.