State spending freeze hits higher education

After losing $40 million in state funding in June, Pitt has been asked by the Commonwealth to… After losing $40 million in state funding in June, Pitt has been asked by the Commonwealth to freeze its spending by 5 percent.

On Jan. 4, Gov. Tom Corbett issued a $160 million budget freeze to all state institutions as a result of lower-than-expected economic growth during the first half of the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

“Until revenue collections improve, we must take precautions to ensure that the Commonwealth budget remains in balance,” Corbett said in a press release.

While most state agencies have been asked to freeze their budgets by 3 percent, Pitt and other state-related schools will suffer a 5 percent cut in their budgets for the latter half of the fiscal year.

State appropriations to Pitt, Penn State, Temple University and Lincoln University represent less than 2 percent of the state’s budget, yet spending cuts by such schools account for 16 percent of the $160 million freeze, according to a press release from Chancellor Mark Nordenberg.

Nordenberg said the reduction in funding will be assigned to the office of the chancellor, the chief financial officer, the executive vice chancellor, and the provost and senior vice chancellor for the health sciences. The University officer in charge of each office will ultimately decide where and how to cut spending.

“Pitt always seems to have been expected to do more with less, but we never have been as good at it as we are today,” Nordenberg said in the press release.

Although the chancellor’s executive officers have yet to decide where and how to handle the cuts in funding, the governor’s new budget freeze has not officially affected tuition for Pitt students in the 2012-2013 school year. The University increased tuition by 8.5 percent for in-state students and 4 percent for out-of-state students after receiving the 22 percent reduction in state funding in June.

Pitt refused to comment further on the budget cut and where the cuts would go.

The University began the fiscal year with a $133,933,000 budget — after a 22 percent reduction in state funding — but the freeze will cut the University’s budget by another $6.8 million.

In total, the state’s budget freeze will cut funds to health care, education and human services by $222,394,000.

The total reduction among Pitt, Penn State, Lincoln University and Temple University totals $25.7 million, according to the press release from Corbett’s office. Penn State saw the largest cut in spending, losing $11.3 million.

Although these public universities will have even less to spend for the next few months, other public agencies, such as the State Police and the Department of Corrections will only be required to freeze 1 percent of their spending, and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency has not been directed to freeze any of its budget for the rest of the fiscal year.

Pitt and other public universities aren’t the only ones seeing sudden and immense cuts to their budgets. Grants to the arts, agricultural research, promotion, education and exports, trauma centers, state-related academic medical centers and teacher professional development will all suffer from a 10 percent reduction in their budgets for the rest of the fiscal year.

“We did not make the decision to freeze these funds lightly,” Corbett said. “If the revenue picture improves in the months ahead, and we determine these funds no longer need to remain frozen, we may be available to free up some or perhaps even all of the funds we are placing into budgetary reserve.”