Colleges and universities in New York have seen a slowdown in enrollment, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

And as top officials at the State University of New York system insist they want to address enrollment through a variety of strategies, a pair of Supreme Court rulings could complicate that effort. 

The court this week struck down race-based college admissions, essentially ending affirmative action. On Friday, the court rejected President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program. 

Higher education officials in New York are trying to assess how to live within these rulings. SUNY Chancellor John King pointed to the relative bargain a public higher education degree is in New York. 

“Eliminating or reducing federal student loan debt for borrowers by $10,000 to $20,000, as President Biden proposed, would have been good for our students, our communities, and our economy, and we hope there will be another path forward for such relief," King said. "In the meantime, we will continue to build on Gov. Hochul’s and SUNY’s commitment to expanding access, affordability, and student success.”

A tuition increase for in-state students was rejected in the state budget approved last month. Lawmakers and Hochul also agreed to a funding boost for the system. And, in a bid to boost enrollment, the state sent all graduating high school seniors acceptance letters to the nearest community college. 

Assembly Higher Education Committee Chair Pat Fahy in an interview Friday acknowledged the rulings created further complications. 

"We are going to have to pivot, find the workarounds, make this work," she said. "This is New York, we value our diversity."

There are potential ways of addressing the affirmative action decision by emphasizing aspects of a student's application, like their essays in which they can discuss their "lived experiences." 

"What colleges and universities can still do is to consider the whole package, the entire socioeconomic package," said Albany Law School Professor Vin Bonventre. "They actually can consider race, but to the extent an applicant in an essay says, 'I've overcome hardships because I'm Black.'"

At the state level, lawmakers may also try to add more tuition assistance to address the loan issue. Republicans, meanwhile, said Biden's initial effort to do so was clearly up to Congress. 

“The decision today rebukes Joe Biden’s shocking disregard for constitutional order and reconfirms a bedrock constitutional principle of our Nation since its founding: namely, that all spending must be approved by congress and a president cannot unilaterally make consequential spending decisions," New York Republican Chairman Ed Cox said.