Schumer Announces Over $70 Milllion In Fed Funding Needed For Rochester Institute Of Technology's National Technical Institute For The Deaf Has Officially Been Included In President's 2017 Budget Request

Press Release

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that the just-released President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 includes $70.016 million in funding for the Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). In December, Schumer announced that the FY 2016 Omnibus spending bill -- the must-pass bill that funds the federal government through the end of the fiscal year -- included $70 million in funding for NTID, a $3 million increase from 2015. Schumer said he will fight tooth and nail to ensure the highest level of funding is maintained in the final appropriations bill in Congress.

"This $70 million in funding in the President's budget is great news for NTID in Rochester -- and shows just how important this Rochester area staple is to both our economy and our deaf- and hard-of-hearing community. This federal funding will allow NTID to invest in critical areas such as instruction, sign language and captioning services. This will allow them to better provide a college education to its students from around the country, so they have the top-notch skills and training to find jobs and advance their careers," said Schumer. "We need to make sure NTID is continually funded at the highest level possible -- so I will fight tooth and nail to make sure this funding is included in the final appropriations bill for 2017."

According to NTID, approximately 94 percent of its graduates were placed in jobs commensurate with their education level, consistent with NTID's average employment rate of 93 percent over the last 10 years. Our first-year persistence rates and graduation rates for both sub-baccalaureate students and baccalaureate students continue to be higher than the national rates for students at two-year and four-year colleges. Using data from the Social Security Administration, NTID can show that its graduates over their lifetimes are employed at a much higher rate, earn substantially more, and participate at a much lower rate in government support programs like Social Security Insurance and Social Security Disability Insurance than students who withdraw from NTID or earn degrees from other institutions of higher education.

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