Add The New York Post on Google Hunter College is grappling with a massive $14 million deficit, officials confirmed to The Post — after the City University of New York’s board of trustees discussed the flagship school’s dire financial situation during a secret “retreat.”
The trustees — without any public notice — held what sources called a “retreat” or “summer session” for two-and-a-half hours at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College on Aug. 17.
The board discussed the finances at CUNY’s 26 colleges and institutions, revealing that Hunter was deep in the red, and that several community colleges also had operating deficits, according to the sources.
Hunter College is facing a $14 million budget deficit, according to officials. Christopher Sadowski Marc Shaw, a senior advisor at the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance, also gave a PowerPoint presentation to the board that addressed future enrollment and demographic trends — given declining high school student population and stiff competition from other colleges, including the State University of New York campuses.
Hunter College officials confirmed the school was contending with having to close $14 million in red ink in a $399 million budget.
“Hunter College is implementing financial savings measures to address its projected structural deficit while ensuring our ability to provide a high-quality education for our students is not impacted,” a school spokesperson said in a statement.
“Full-time faculty and staff and academic programs are not expected to be affected,” the statement said. “We may also draw on reserves if necessary to cover any remaining deficit at the end of the academic year. These decisions are being made with an aim toward minimal operational disruption.”
Beyond the school’s troubling financial news, sources questioned if the trustees’ closed-door session violated New York’s Open Meetings Law.
The CUNY board of trustees discussed Hunter’s financial outlook during a secret “retreat” on Aug. 17. Christopher Sadowski One former CUNY trustee blasted the current leadership for holding a secret meeting on what appears to be official business.
“I was on the board for 15 years. We never convened in this fashion. We never had a retreat like that,” said Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, who served as a CUNY trustee appointed by former Gov. George Pataki
“That constitutes a meeting of the board,” Wiesenfeld said of the topics discussed.
The secret powwow took place before the board held their regular, public meeting, which lasted just two minutes, passing one resolution and shelving another.
Under the Open Meetings Law, governing bodies like the CUNY board hold public meetings for official business but can go into executive session or behind closed doors to discuss personnel matters or litigation, Wiesenfeld noted.
Rachel Fauss, senior policy advisor to the government watchdog group Reinvent Albany, said, “It’s obtuse. You can’t do public business in private, if you have a quorum. “
“These topics — college finances and demographic and enrollment trends — are really important information the public should see. There should be nothing to hide.”
Meanwhile, a CUNY official confirmed that its Institute for State & Local Governance gave a presentation at the “summer session” focused on projected demographic shifts among high school- and college-age populations and their potential impact on future enrollment.
Students at the city’s public high schools provide a significant portion of CUNY’s enrollment, so any population drop-off would pose a challenge.
CUNY’s enrollment has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels of 271,242 students in fall 2019.
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Enrollment has increased 9.13% over the past three years, rising from a post-pandemic low of 225,881 in Fall 2022 to 246,503 in Fall 2025.
Figures are yet available for the upcoming fall semester but CUNY expects another bump in enrollment.
Wiesenfeld, an alum of CUNY’s Queens College, said he expects the number of Jewish students at CUNY campuses to plummet because of anti-Israel hostility and protests.
A CUNY official maintained the secret “annual summer education session” was legal and appropriate because “no official Board business was conducted, and no votes were taken.”
The CUNY trustees are appointed by the governor and and mayor to staggered seven year terms. Gov. Kathy Hochul appointed many of the members, but Mayor Zohran Mamdani must wait for vacancies to do so.
The board is chaired by former city Comptroller Bill Thompson, a Hochul appointee.
