SUNY New Paltz will continue to have to focus its efforts and tighten its belt in the 2011-2012 school year, but hopefully the darkest days of the Great Recession are now behind them, college President Donald Christian said last week. A struggling economy forced the local branch of the State University of New York to craft a budget that made multi-million-dollar cuts. “These forces demand that we continue to refine our focus,” Christian said.

Recently, the university has cut $5 million of the $6.3 million it needed to when faced with a large budget deficit last year. The plan to keep cutting and break even is on track. “We intend to complete that plan,” the president added.

Part of the recovery from the budget gap has to do with the tuition increases this year and in the next four. Like this year, the tuition will go up by $300 each year until the end of that period, which would result in $1.8 million in new revenue for the college.