Couldn’t this make tuition more expensive for students at the school?

The New York Times reports.

Bernie Sanders Urges Cuomo to Raise CUNY Professors’ Pay

While the rest of the presidential field was talking about how to confront global terrorism, Senator Bernie Sanders in recent days had a very local issue on his mind: getting a raise for professors at the City University of New York.

Roughly 25,000 CUNY faculty and professional staff members have been without a contract since 2010, and have not had salary increases in that time. Part of the reason is that the amount of per-pupil funding CUNY receives from the state has declined, adjusted for inflation, since before the recession; roughly 45 percent of the system’s $3.2 billion budget comes from the state.

Mr. Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic nomination, on Friday sent a letter to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that called on him to provide funding for a new contract with raises.

“As a college degree becomes increasingly important for economic security in our vastly unequal society, CUNY has historically represented the possibility that a college education of the highest quality could be accessible to all,” the Vermont senator wrote. “It should continue to represent that possibility.

“That is why I am troubled by New York State’s refusal so far to invest in a fair contract for the university’s faculty and staff.”

While it might seem strange for a presidential candidate to weigh in on a local university’s contract dispute, the issue is on message for Mr. Sanders, who grew up in Brooklyn and whose campaign has focused on income inequality. Most of CUNY’s 275,000 degree-seeking students are minorities and come from low-income backgrounds.