Pa. state universities are getting a historic boost in funding with state budget deal

Pennsylvania has awarded the system overseeing its state universities more than a 15% increase, or a $75 million boost, in basic funding, the largest one-time increase since the system was founded in 1983, university officials said.

And that will pay off for students, allowing the universities to freeze tuition and fees for a fourth consecutive year, despite inflation — a move that comes as many other colleges are increasing costs.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education voted earlier this year to freeze the tuition and fees as long as the legislature came through with its funding request.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania state universities to freeze tuition fourth straight year

Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said Friday that the tuition freeze would remain on the books, given that the system’s basic funding allotment will increase to $552.5 million. The freeze is in effect for the system’s now 10 universities, which includes six schools that were integrated into two effective July 1 as part of a plan to cope with a huge decline in enrollment.

The system, Greenstein said, also will get $125 million in one-time stimulus funds to help it continue to redesign how its schools operate and deliver education, including focusing on achievement gaps, graduation and retention rates, and workforce development.

Greenstein said he saw the funding hike as a sign of increased political confidence in the state universities, something he has been working to build since he arrived in 2018. The system’s decision to merge Bloomsburg, Mansfield, and Lock Haven universities, and California, Clarion, and Edinboro was part of an overall effort to show legislators it intended to operate more efficiently. Other universities in the system include Cheyney, West Chester, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Indiana, Slippery Rock, Shippensburg, and Millersville.

» READ MORE: Merger of six Pennsylvania state universities gets OK, the biggest change in the system’s history

“This is great for Pennsylvanians,” Greenstein said. “They now have access to continuing affordable higher education that leads to great jobs and great careers.”

But the funding news wasn’t as rosy for the so-called state-related universities, which are partially private. Temple, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Lincoln University will get the same amount as they did last year.

While saying it was grateful for the funding, Temple University in a statement noted it was the fourth straight year of flat funding. The university will receive $158.2 million.

“This is especially challenging in a year with near record levels of inflation,” the school said.

Temple trustees meeting next week are expected to set tuition for next year. it’s unclear whether or how much of an impact the state budget will have on their decision-making.

Penn State’s board will meet later this month to do the same. While the university’s basic allocation will remain at $242.1 million, the school said it will get a 5% or $2.7 million increase in agricultural research and extension funding and for the first time $2.35 million for Invent Penn State, a seven-year-old initiative designed to spur more economic development and entrepreneur activity.

Still no increase in the basic allocation poses a challenge, said Neeli Bendapudi, Penn State’s new president. Penn State last got an increase of 2% in 2019-20.

“Inflationary pressures, revenue losses from the pandemic, demographic shifts, and other factors driving cost, coupled with successive years of flat funding, pose significant challenges for the university and will require us to look deeply at our budget and spending in the coming year,” she said.

» READ MORE: Pa. House Republicans want to block state funding for the University of Pittsburgh over fetal-tissue research

Late last month, Republican lawmakers attempted to hold up funding for the four state-related universities unless each agreed to swear under oath they would not use fetal tissue from an elected abortion for research. The issue stems from continued complaints from abortion opponents that Pitt conducts such research. The schools’ funding, however, was passed without such a requirement.

Some local private universities and schools in New Jersey have announced plans to raise tuition. The University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers both announced they will raise costs 2.9%. At Rowan, tuition and fees will rise 4%.

But in-state students in Pennsylvania’s state universities will see no such increases. In-state students, who make up the vast majority of the system’s 88,651 students, will continue to pay $7,716 in annual tuition and a $478 technology fee. (Out-of-state tuition is set by the individual campuses. The technology fee for out-of-state students is $728.)

The system also will use the funding to increase its financial aid budget from about $100 million to $120 million to $130 million, Greenstein said.

But the system didn’t get everything it asked for. A request for $200 million that would have gone directly to student financial aid was not included in the state spending plan. That would have allowed the system to decrease tuition anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000, depending upon whether the system targeted the money only to students from low-income families or to a broader group that also looked at high-need career areas, Greenstein said.

» READ MORE: Pa. state universities will seek a 15% boost in funding, plus more money for student aid

“We’re going to continue to fight for the other piece,” Greenstein said. “At some point, we have to get at the affordability thing,”

But the money that the legislature provided will allow the universities to avoid devastating cuts or tuition increases, though Greenstein made it clear that schools with declining enrollment will have to continue to adjust.

As enrollment looks now, he anticipates the system will remain flat for 2022-23 or perhaps drop a percentage point. But there’s variation among schools, he said. The system has lost more than a quarter of its enrollment since 2010.

Also in the budget is a 6.6% increase in state grants to eligible students through the Higher Education Assistance Agency.