Legislators, you’ve got three days to fund our community colleges
The ten state system universities have gotten their state funding for this fiscal year. So have the four “state-related” universities. But some educational institutions are being left high and dry.
This includes the state’s fifteen community colleges, who very much need these funds. And why haven’t they gotten their funding when their peers have? The politics of the state legislature.
In his budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed $261 million for the state’s community colleges, a 2% increase from the $256 million they received last year. Between 20 and 30% of the colleges’ annual income comes from the state. They generally use these funds to make tuition more affordable and to run student support programs as well as for other operational costs.
To make up the funds they haven’t gotten, some have either taken money from their reserves, which reduces their expected investment income, or taken out loans at 7 to 8% interest. Neither is a sustainable answer for institutions always running on a tight budget with a broad responsibility.
The effect of the delayed funding varies between them. The Community College of Allegheny County has funds to support the college for several more months, while Butler County Community College has already reached “dangerously low levels” in their coffers. The college already faces a $2.9 million deficit, partly due to the lingering effects of the pandemic. The Community College of Beaver County has had to draw against its line of credit with a 7% interest rate. Westmoreland County Community College may need to do the same thing.
We don’t need to rehash the benefits of community college education. These colleges do what literally no other institution can do: offer a diverse and affordable education in needed skills on schedules working people can manage.
Community colleges are included in a different part of the “fiscal code” than the others, and the legislature hasn’t passed it in part because of the ongoing battle over a “school choice” voucher system for public school children.
In other words, the education of adults, and adults who often attend community college because it’s significantly less expensive than the colleges and universities, including the state-funded ones, is being held up over a disagreement about the education of children. Their education is being held hostage in a battle over a program they have nothing to do with.
This is absurd. Legislators need to strike a deal on school funding or, failing that, break out community college funding into its own bill. And they need to do it fast.
There are currently only three scheduled session days left in the year. Unless legislative leaders add more, after that the budget won’t be able to pass for two or three months.
And by then, more reserves will run and more debt will be taken out, and Pennsylvania’s community college system will be weaker for years to come.