Impacts from the recently enacted federal budget law, upcoming appropriations for federal fiscal year 2026 and executive actions since January 2025 risk undermining the strength and competitiveness of New York’s higher education sector and the social and economic benefits it generates.

New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) has not kept pace with inflation or rising tuition costs since the 2008-09 academic year. Undergraduate TAP recipients dropped by 77,000 (21%), with steep declines among two-year programs (45%), private-sector schools (40%), and the lowest income households (38%). Recent State actions to expand eligibility for TAP helped lead to an increase in TAP beneficiaries in AY 2024-25; however, continued attention to the program is critical as students face mounting debt levels and federal support is reduced.

This report highlights Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) results for school districts that reported for school fiscal year (SY) 2023-24, which ended on June 30, 2024. Of the 670 districts scored, 22, or 3.3 percent, received a fiscal stress designation. This is six more than in SY 2022-23. The report also includes a look at districts that have experienced chronic fiscal stress over the twelve years since FSMS began and a brief analysis of the system’s companion set of environmental indicators.

In SFY 2021-22 (April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022), OSC completed 10 audits of preschool special education providers' expenses submitted to SED. These audits cumulatively identified $3.8 million in recommended disallowances, or more than 4 percent of the total claimed expenses of $92.8 million for the audit period.

In SFY 2022-23 (April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023), OSC completed 10 audits of preschool special education providers' expenses submitted to SED. These audits cumulatively identified $7.7 million in recommended disallowances, or more than 13 percent of the total claimed expenses of $57.7 million for the audit period.

Chronic absenteeism rates among New York public and charter school students increased sharply as schools transitioned back to in-person learning after the COVID-19 pandemic subsided and remained high with nearly one in three students chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year. The rates were higher for high school students at 34.1%, 7.6 percentage points more than elementary and middle school students.

Higher education institutions provide tremendous value to New York’s local economies and the State’s overall economic health through employment, wages, student spending, and more. The sector employed over 296,000 people in 2023, paying wages of around $26.5 billion, but still has over 13,000 fewer jobs than in 2019. Maintaining a vibrant higher education system is critical to New York’s future.

New York’s higher education sector is facing challenges, including a looming enrollment cliff, growing costs of attendance, and rising student debt. This report provides critical indicators on the competitiveness of higher education institutions, explains their major challenges, and offers recommendations for consideration. Keeping New York’s higher education institutions competitive by ensuring their affordability, diversity and spirit of innovation and community is important for our State’s future.

This snapshot highlights the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) results for school districts that reported for school fiscal year (SY) 2022-23, which ended on June 30, 2023. Increases to federal pandemic relief aid and the State fully funding foundation aid kept many districts out of a stress designation. For SY 2022-23, sixteen school districts were designated as being in stress—the second-lowest number since the system was created. The report also includes a look at districts that have been chronically stressed over the eleven years since FSMS began.

This report examines comparative data for 10 rural counties in New York to identify challenges faced by these communities and others like them, as well as opportunities. Population, employment, housing and other trends were considered, and these findings can be used as a baseline from which future trends can be measured. The median age of people living in these 10 rural counties increased at nearly twice the rate of the State between 2011 and 2021 while simultaneously population numbers declined.