Students enrolled in the four statutory colleges at Cornell are receiving good news this week.

Thanks to the elimination of a proposed tuition increase for the State University of New York (SUNY) when the state budget was passed on July 13, most students in the statutory colleges will see tuition reductions ranging from $125 to $305 per semester. The Executive Committee of Cornell's Board of Trustees will vote on the new tuition rates at its Sept. 12 meeting in New York City.

The Cornell Board of Trustees set tentative statutory tuition rates at its May 25 meeting, anticipating that a proposed $250 per year increase proposed in the governor's executive budget recommendations for SUNY would be approved by the state Legislature. The trustees added a stipulation that tuition rates would be reconsidered and adjusted as necessary when the state's final higher education allocation was approved.

Cornell's statutory colleges received $120,418,200 in state appropriations for 1996-97, a $2.4 million shortfall from the $122.8 million level required to support base-level programs, according to Nathan Fawcett, director of statutory college affairs. The budget also restored $51.9 million to the SUNY operating budget, prohibited a SUNY tuition increase for undergraduate New York state residents, restored full funding for the state's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and increased unrestricted direct institutional support for the endowed sector of Cornell (Bundy Aid).

The revised 1996-97 tuition rates for the statutory colleges (Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Ecology, Industrial and Labor Relations and Veterinary Medicine) are:

• Undergraduate (resident), a semester decrease of $125, new annual tuition of $8,800.
• Undergraduate (non-resident), a semester decrease of $305, new annual tuition of $17,060.
• Graduate non-veterinary, a semester decrease of $188, new annual tuition of $10,288.
• Doctor of veterinary medicine (resident), a semester decrease of $175, new annual tuition of $13,450.
• Doctor of veterinary medicine (non-resident), a semester decrease of $258, new annual tuition of $18,084.
• Veterinary graduate, semester decrease of $188, new annual tuition of $10,974.
• Graduate reduced, no change, tuition remaining at $8,000.

The Controller's, Bursar's, Undergraduate Financial Aid and Graduate Fellowship offices at Cornell are now changing students' tuition bills. Bills to be sent out in October will contain an entry for credit in the appropriate amount, and the actual amount of the new tuition will appear on December billing statements.

Awards to undergraduate financial aid recipients will be changed commensurate with the lower tuition rates; these new rates also will appear on October bills.