Students Are Flocking to Public Colleges

But instead of worrying how New York State is going to serve everybody who qualifies with a good quality college education at a price they can afford, this story is written from the point of view of the administrators, who are taking advantage of the bump in enrollment to groom their campus standing and student body, even as their budget is being cut.

"Over the last decade, enrollment in the SUNY system has grown by 20 percent. But officials at New Paltz do not want to grow, and instead see the swelling applicant pool as a way to further refine its status and student body. In the last five years, the college has winnowed the student-to-faculty ratio to 14 to 1, from 17 to 1; more than two-thirds of courses are taught by full-time faculty members today, compared with 50 percent a decade ago."