University system wants $550 million from state
Pennsylvania’s state university system is seeking a historic investment from the commonwealth to help meet the state’s workforce and economic development goals, while reducing the cost of a degree. The State System of Higher Education’s governing board on Thursday approved a request of $550 million from Gov. Tom Wolf and the General Assembly.
If granted, that would be the largest appropriation the system ever received in its 38 years of existence. The request represents a 15% increase over this year’s nearly $477.5 million appropriation, an increase of $72.5 million. It would ensure a fourth year of holding the line on tuition, which now stands at $7,716 for the undergraduate in-state two semester rate, system officials said.
The system relies predominantly on tuition to help fund its $1.6 billion operating budgets of the 14 state universities and the chancellor’s office that oversees them with state aid covering 29% of its revenue needs. Its state funding to support its operating budget has fluctuated over the past 20 years and is now less than it was over a decade ago. Additionally, the state system this year received a $50 million down payment on a three-year, one-time $200 million commitment to help finance the system’s redesign that began five years ago, along with helping to fund other priorities.
With little discussion, all board members supported the request for more state funding with one abstention. Sen. Scott Martin, R-Lancaster County, cited a conflict of interest on the matter since he serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and as chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
System Chancellor Dan Greenstein said the requested increase in funding is needed to support operating costs and would ensure none of the institutions would have to borrow from the other schools to keep its doors open. It also will enable the system to continue implementing its university consolidation plans, invest in its diversity, equity and inclusion plan and support other initiatives.
“We’re setting the stage to say that we need and we want partnership” with the state, said system board Chairwoman Cynthia Shapira. “We have great partnership. We need even more. We’ve got to go now to the next level.”
Greenstein pointed out the system has taken a number of steps over the past three years to stabilize itself financially, which was a subject of concern to many lawmakers at past budget hearings. The system has also been challenged with declining enrollment in recent years. This year’s enrollment drop was the largest in more than 20 years.
“I heard constantly how — and it’s true — that our revenues were not aligning to our expenditures and as enrollments were declining, we were not adjusting our operating costs,” Greenstein said. “We aggressively attacked that problem.”
The system got its arms around its low-enrolled universities by reversing the enrollment decline at Cheyney and moving forward with consolidating six of its universities into two institutions, he said. It addressed student affordability by freezing tuition rates for three consecutive years and redirected $100 million in its universities’ operating budgets to provide student aid.
Among other strides, Greenstein said it is growing its underserved student markets and increasing opportunities for community college transfers.
“Having kept all of these promises and delivered on all of them — and we’ll continue to do that — but we have to now at some point begin to talk about the level of investment in the system and its students.” Greenstein told PennLive earlier this week. He made a similar statement to the board during the meeting, which prompted former state House Speaker Sam Smith, a member of the system’s board, to offer a word of advice if the chancellor intends to say that to legislators.
“You better be ready to back it up with financial or whatever the documents are to support it,” Smith said.
Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery County, also suggested reminding lawmakers of what those promises were to ensure there aren’t any varying interpretations. Greenstein accepted those words of advice and shared slides with information about the system’s progress that he felt will help him make his case to lawmakers for the increased appropriation.
As part of his presentation to the board, Greenstein also encouraged the board to advocate for more funding for direct student aid to make attending a college degree more affordable, particularly for the low- and middle-income families that the system serves.
Greenstein said for the state to meet its workforce needs, it needs to do more to help students from these income levels attain the post-secondary education that employers demand.
“We’re pricing too many people out of the higher education they need, that Pennsylvania needs them to have in order to keep the lights on in the economy,” Greenstein told the board. “That one we can’t solve, not without help” from the state.
The State System enrolls more than 88,600 students at its universities, which include Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.