Zohran Mamdani Charts New Course for CUNY Investment in Mayoral Transition

Mayor-elect prioritizes massive funding increase for public higher education system

Historic Mandate for Public Higher Education

Zohran Mamdani’s decisive victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo has energized advocates and educators who have long called for increased investment in the City University of New York system. As the newly elected mayor prepares for his January 2025 inauguration, his administration has signaled that CUNY funding will remain a central pillar of his agenda to address New York City’s affordability crisis. The Professional Staff Congress, which represents 30,000 faculty and staff members across CUNY’s 25 institutions, has celebrated Mamdani’s win as a transformative moment for public higher education in the nation’s largest city. CUNY’s official website documents the system’s ongoing infrastructure and staffing challenges, issues Mamdani has committed to addressing through state and city legislative cooperation. Mamdani’s platform explicitly promises to work with lawmakers to achieve what supporters describe as a “massive investment” in CUNY that would cover infrastructure improvements, living wages for faculty and staff, free transit cards for students, and ultimately tuition-free enrollment across the entire system.

The New Deal for CUNY Takes Center Stage

Central to Mamdani’s higher education vision is the New Deal for CUNY legislation, a comprehensive proposal that would eliminate remaining tuition costs for students after other financial aid programs and significantly improve the faculty-to-student ratio across institutions. James Davis, president of the Professional Staff Congress, has emphasized that while Governor Kathy Hochul secured a $53 million state funding boost, decades of chronic underfunding have left CUNY struggling to maintain quality and access. According to Inside Higher Ed, Mamdani ran his campaign explicitly on an affordability platform that resonated with over one million New Yorkers who cast their votes in what observers described as a generational political moment. The incoming mayor has indicated willingness to work with state legislators who have previously supported the New Deal for CUNY framework. Educational policy experts note that Mamdani’s commitment comes as CUNY’s enrollment includes at least 30 percent immigrant students, a population the mayor-elect has vowed to protect amid the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.

Private University Tax Reform Under Consideration

While championing CUNY’s expansion, Mamdani has also proposed a more controversial revenue mechanism: the REPAIR Act, which would eliminate tax breaks for private universities with property holdings valued at $100 million or more and redirect savings to public higher education. As an assemblymember, Mamdani co-sponsored this legislation with State Senator John Liu, though the proposal died in committee during its previous iterations. The policy has generated debate among higher education analysts regarding appropriate timing and implementation. NYU and Columbia University would represent the primary targets of such tax policy changes. Some observers have noted that private universities are currently navigating significant federal pressure, including settlement agreements related to campus protest policies. Academic leaders have suggested the incoming administration may prioritize direct CUNY investment before pursuing private university tax changes, though Mamdani has not ruled out the REPAIR Act as part of his longer-term fiscal agenda.