Governor proposes $204M fund for tuition aid
Would help students in State System
Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday proposed a “historic” $204 million scholarship program for full-time students attending the 14 state-owned universities who agree to remain in Pennsylvania for as many years as they receive the aid.
In his remarks, and in a summary of the governor’s proposed 2020-21 commonwealth spending plan, Mr. Wolf said the new Nellie Bly Tuition Program would use re-purposed dollars from the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Trust Fund.
The need-based program is named for an iconic Pennsylvanian and journalist of the late
1800s, herself driven from college by costs after her father died. It is the signature among Mr. Wolf’s higher education initiatives in next year’s $36.1 billion general fund proposal to support state operations beginning July 1.
Mr. Wolf also is seeking $60 million in new funding for the Pennsylvania State Grant Program and $12.9 million in special aid next year to support redesign of the 14 state-owned universities belonging to the State System of Higher Education, whose nearly 96,000 students include those at California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock universities in Western Pennsylvania.
The tuition aid program already is getting pushback from individuals within agriculture including the Pennsylvania Equine Coalition, which criticized it as a “raid” that “would result in the end of horse racing” in this state.
However, Mr. Wolf characterized the scholarships as important to support college affordability, help reduce time to degree and keep young adults in Pennsylvania and working to help fuel the state’s economy.
“This needs-based tuition will fill the gap between the students’ financial aid and other financial assistance to cover the tuition and the real costs of college, including room and board, books, supplies, and graduation expenses,” according to an executive summary of the budget plan. “The tuition converts to a loan if the student moves out of the commonwealth during the commitment period and can be deferred while the student pursues further education.”
The program, which Mr. Wolf described as “historic,” is targeted toward low-income and middle class full-time undergraduate students who qualify to receive Pell Grants or federal subsidized loans, said J.J. Abbott, a spokesman for the governor. The state Department of Education estimates at least 25,000 State System students from families with annual household income $75,000 and under will likely be eligible for this scholarship, Mr. Abbott said.
The State System, whose base in-state tuition of $7,716 a year is the least expensive university option in Pennsylvania, serves an enrollment nearly 90% from in-state.
Out-of-state students also are eligible for the scholarship but must follow the residency retention rule, Mr. Abbott said.
The proposed budget, delivered before a joint session of the Legislature in Harrisburg, otherwise keeps campus appropriations at current levels for the State System, the staterelated universities — the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities — and the state’s community colleges.
Last fall, the State System’s board of governors asked the governor and Legislature not only for a 2% increase in the system’s 2020-21 state appropriation, to $487 million, but also the first $20 million installment on $100 million the board says is needed over five years for system redesign. That would include dollars for infrastructure to allow campuses to deliver academic programs jointly, to share services and to reach new student markets.
In recent weeks, system representatives sought to make their case. In remarks last month, Chancellor Daniel Greenstein cast it as a watershed moment. He said the system has put in place strategies that can return the universities to self-sufficiency within five years — a date intended to avoid interfering with current students’ academic pursuits.
Shortly after the governor’s speech, Mr. Greenstein praised the new scholarship program, saying it “represents a watershed investment in the success of Pennsylvania’s students and the Commonwealth’s public higher education system.”
Based on information from the governor’s office, Mr. Greenstein said more than 25,000 students could be eligible for the needbased awards and said it will give them another reason to start their careers in Pennsylvania.
Those opposed to use of Race Horse Development Trust Fund revenue spoke of dire consequences if the money is shifted to State System scholarships at the fund’s expense.
“If approved by the Legislature, this raid would result in the end of horseracing in Pennsylvania by eviscerating the primary funding source for the purses and breeder incentives that serve as the lifeblood of the industry,” said Pete Peterson, executive director of the Pennsylvania Equine Coalition, an organization representing the six thoroughbred and Standardbred horsemen and breeder associations in the state.
The State System grew steadily to a record enrollment of nearly 120,000. But since 2010, a 20% enrollment loss has dropped headcount to 95,802 across the system, fueled by factors including cost, competition and population loss across parts of Pennsylvania.