HERE’S something to think about as college students across the state settle into campus life.

According to a recently released study by the Department of Education, paying for college is a greater burden for New Yorkers than in any other state. The costs for low- and middle-income students to attend public universities and community colleges here represent nearly 50 percent of their annual family income. Furthermore, a new study on higher education put out by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a nonprofit group, gave New York a failing grade for affordability.

This growing financial burden has resulted in more post-college debt and has forced students to work longer hours to make ends meet while in school and to take longer to complete degrees. This has translated into lower graduation rates. And yet the demand for entry-level workers with college degrees continues to spread.

Who loses when this happens? New York businesses, which are left with a shortage of employees. If our workers fail to meet the intellectual and educational demands of 21st-century businesses, then businesses will leave the state, just as many young adults who can’t afford to live here are doing and will do if they can’t find jobs. A stable and growing economy needs an educated work force, and an educated work force is possible only with investments in our state’s system of higher education.

Meanwhile, the costs of college tuition, books and fees continue to rise as federal and state financing for higher education has decreased. Because of that, middle-class students who have to rely on loans to pay tuition are saddled with increasing debt. And lower-income New Yorkers are less likely to attend college and more likely to remain in poverty and dependent on government assistance as a result.

Recent national data shows that the graduation rate for high-income students in four-year colleges is 66 percent higher than it is for low-income students. And this school year’s fixed rate for federal Stafford Loans is now more than 6.5 percent. Two years ago, the rate averaged below 3 percent. What’s more, the president’s proposed budget for next year eliminates federal financing of low-interest Perkins Loans, which are available to students through their institutions, and has again frozen Pell Grants at a maximum of only $4,050 per student for the fifth consecutive year.

In the wake of these federal assaults, state action is even more critical. Fortunately, in New York, the Legislature has rejected Gov. George Pataki’s efforts to cut the Tuition Assistance Program, the Higher Education Opportunity Program and the Education Opportunity Program. The Legislature also overrode the governor’s vetoes of increases in financing for the State University of New York and the City University of New York.

And that’s good because investment in these programs have benefited the state in many ways. For instance, 80 percent of Education Opportunity Program students remain in the state after graduating, returning more than $200 million in revenue to New York through income and sales tax. Similarly, students who were provided financial assistance through the state and city university programs returned an additional $130 million every year. And yet the state’s investment in these programs has been a small fraction of our return.

But simply restoring these attempted cuts is not enough. In addition to investing in education opportunity programs, and systems like SUNY and CUNY, Albany needs to encourage college graduation rates by increasing scholarships and student aid, lowering interest costs on student loans and instituting loan forgiveness programs for students who commit to public service careers in fields where the state faces shortages, like teaching, nursing and firefighting.

All parents, of course, want their children to have the best opportunities for their future. We need to consider that logic and understand that the future of New York State’s economy depends on providing access to higher education and to job opportunities after graduation.

Liz Krueger is the state senator representing New York’s 26th district.

Back in February, I wrote an editorial about the need to address the troubling achievement gap between African-American and Hispanic students and their white peers in New York City schools. However, there is another achievement gap that I want to discuss, one that receives less attention, but is nevertheless disturbing and in need of a solution; that is, the achievement gap between special education students and students taught in regular classrooms.

A report titled “Leaving School Empty-Handed: A Report on Graduation and Dropout Rates for Students who Receive Special Education Services In New York City” (June, 2005) by Advocates for Children (AFC) found that only 12% of the more than 150,000 students receiving special education services in New York City graduate with a Regents or local high school diploma. The first public report of its kind—which is in-and-of-itself troubling—shows that the City’s special education graduation rates trail markedly behind those of students in other parts of New York State and the country. One shocking statistic which highlights this shameful fact is that during the same school year, while 31% of special education students in the country and 26% of special education students in New York State earned regular high school diplomas, only 12.8% of these students received diplomas in New York City. Finally, one of the most unsettling statistics detailed in the report is that of the schoolchildren classified as having an “emotional disturbance,” 96% never earn a regular high school diploma.

I have just barely begun to outline a major breakdown in our educational system. The idea that students are dropping out at these rates, is inexcusable. To knowingly watch them leave without trying to rectify this crisis is even more unforgivable. The term “special needs student” is not synonymous with the label “unable to succeed,” which is essentially what we are equating it with when we let children drop out. Every student should be expected to succeed whether they are receiving special education services or are taught in a regular classroom. That said, there are different roads to success in school. Particularly for students with special needs, these roads might be longer, with more bumps along the way. But achievement is possible.

So what can be done? First, the Department of Education needs to make it a priority to identify where in the system this failure is occurring. Although special education curriculums vary widely, it is clear with the release of AFC’s study that these programs are in need of greater accountability standards despite their individualized nature. In several states, intervention tactics such as summer school programs have proven effective for students who have not reached acceptable grade levels in math and reading. The AFC also offers several sound solutions, which include greater flexibility for schools to create smaller inclusion classes as necessary, and developing GED programs tailored to students with special needs. In 2004, less than 97 special education students who dropped out of school earned their GED. It is inconceivable that in a city where 20,000 students are in GED programs, no provisions are made for students with disabilities. In addition to improving GED programs, vocational education opportunities for people with disabilities need to be strengthened in New York City as few exist now. States such as California have been experimenting with programs that link vocational training and special education programs to offer students greater flexibility and choice in their education.

Children with special needs have been labeled all of their lives. Let’s help give them a label they actually want—“able to succeed.”