ALBANY -- Legislative negotiators have agreed on the "foundation" of a new state university financing system, including annual tuition increases over the next several years and a new capital construction program for the four university centers, including the University at Buffalo.

The tentative agreement also calls for the Tuition Assistance Program, or TAP, to raise its maximum grant levels for lower-income students so they can meet the tuition increases and for the state to not reduce its funding to the 64-campus system, according to a legislative official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Negotiators from the Assembly and the State Senate have rejected a push by UB and the other campus centers to be able to charge "differential" tuition rates to cover their costs that exceed those of other SUNY campuses, though they could impose new, higher rates on out-of-state students.

So far, the deal comes nowhere near what UB had been seeking in its future capital plans, including a major downtown Buffalo redeployment of its facilities. The legislative official characterized the overall UB capital request as having a $5 billion price tag -- funded, in part, by loans made possible through tuition increases. The official said the plan will instead provide a "down payment" on UB's downtown plans, resulting in a slower process than what UB wanted.

The sides also have been unable to agree on terms to let campuses enter into business deals with private companies more freely.

Lawmakers have been concerned that campuses would end up distracted from their core mission -- educating students -- if permitted to engage in joint ventures with, for instance, real estate developers on state land.

The emerging deal would limit the capital construction fund to education-related developments for the UB, Stony Brook, Binghamton and Albany campuses.

Officials cautioned that deals under discussion today could still collapse before lawmakers return Tuesday to try again to wrap up the stalled budget. The SUNY issue has become a part of the deliberations because at least two senators, including Sen. William T. Stachowski, D-Lake View, said they would not vote for the last remaining budget bill unless the SUNY issue is settled.

"We're still negotiating," Stachowski said Thursday before terms of a tentative deal emerged. He could not be reached later to comment.

A UB spokesman said that talks are ongoing and that the university continues to "make the case for why these changes are critical to the future of UB, our students and the Western New York community."

Plans have called for tuition to be increased by as much as 8 percent per year. SUNY maintains that it needs a steady revenue stream -- outside the politicized and economics-sensitive budget process -- in order to compete with other public colleges nationwide and to be able to expand programs such as class offerings. Over the last 30 years, tuition has gone up by an average of 6 to 7 percent a year.

Besides a 2 percent SUNY tuition increase this fall, which has already been approved, the sides are discussing tuition hikes of as much as 4 percent over the next several years on a pilot basis. The sides are still discussing how long the tuition-increase period would last; one plan says it would be four years.

The sides also are discussing how to ensure a "maintenance of effort" provision so that the state -- through its general fund budget -- does not reduce future funding commitments to SUNY because it is letting the campuses raise tuition. Typically, the state permits the SUNY system to raise tuition but then grabs back the new proceeds -- or reduces what it would have otherwise spent on the system -- to help fund its own budget.

In the last two years, SUNY's budget has been cut six times for a total of $424 million.

Earlier in the day, Gov. David A. Paterson, who first proposed the SUNY plan, met for two hours with black and Latino caucus members of the Legislature to press the effort.

Top legislative officials are trying to get a SUNY deal finalized next week, along with the final budget bill and a contingency fund to cover the potential loss of $1 billion in Medicaid reimbursement funds. The fiscal year began April 1, and the late record for the budget, set in 2003, is Aug. 11.

During a Syracuse radio interview later Thursday, Paterson estimated that at least 1,000 state workers might be laid off to help balance the budget.

Lawmakers also are facing voters this fall, and Democrats are in a pitched battle with Republicans to try to retain their narrow control in the 62-member Senate, which they only won in the last election after 70 years of GOP dominance.

Thursday, the Legislature concluded two days of brief sessions -- ordered by Paterson -- in which no bills were approved. The two days cost taxpayers at least $100,000.

After her meeting with Paterson and the black and Latino lawmakers, SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher expressed optimism for the deal, dubbed the "SUNY empowerment" plan. "Our status is, 'We're in play,'" she said, "and that's a really good thing."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and Senate Democratic Conference Leader John L. Sampson, D-Brooklyn, met twice Thursday with Paterson on the budget and SUNY. Before heading into the final meeting, Silver said the SUNY issue is not resolved.

"Consistent with the mission of SUNY, there are things that we can do," such as raising TAP levels so that "modest tuition increases" can go forward, Silver said. He has been insisting that SUNY be able to keep added tuition revenue and that the state maintain funding for the system so schools can increase class offerings. This he said, would help students graduate on time while permitting others to increase research opportunities that can help communities produce jobs.

The SUNY chancellor said the system would use extra tuition revenue to ensure that low-income students do not get harmed if the income-based TAP grant program does not cover the amount of the increase. But Silver said that is not enough. He wants TAP increases guaranteed to match the tuition hike for TAP-eligible students. "It's not up to the chancellor," Silver said of such funding promises.

Black and Latino lawmakers coming out of the meeting with Paterson and Zimpher were split over the SUNY program.

Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, a Democrat whose district includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester County, said, "We've got a standoff. We want to be sure that we are satisfied that we're not trying to privatize our institutions in our attempt to build them and make them No. 1 in the country."

tprecious@buffnews.comnull