Tuition likely to increase

Pitt will likely decide Friday how much it will charge students this fall in the wake of a 19… Pitt will likely decide Friday how much it will charge students this fall in the wake of a 19 percent cut in state funding announced last week.

The Budget Committee of Pitt’s Board of Trustees meets Friday morning, and will likely decide Pitt’s budget and tuition rate after a last-minute state budget prevented a decision at the full board meeting two weeks ago.

Though Pitt officials haven’t given hints as to what the number could be, it will likely be more than 4 percent for in-state students, as state money is meant to offset their tuition. Tuition at Temple University, a school with similar enrollment and funding cuts, announced a 10 percent tuition hike last week.

However, Pitt students will likely receive more money from the state, as the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency has upped the maximum amount that individuals can receive this year.

The Tuition Decision

Pitt officials have stated that tuition increases for in-state students will reflect the amount the University receives in state funds.

Last year Pitt officials blamed in part a stagnation in that funding when they announced a 5.5 percent increase in in-state tuition.

Art Ramicone, the vice chancellor for budget and controller, said after the board’s meeting last month that the board’s decision would likely come at the committee meeting Friday.

“We realize there are working families and working students so we’re going to try to be reasonable about [tuition],” Ramicone said.

This year’s appropriation, which has been a little less than 10 percent of Pitt’s total budget, marks the largest decrease in Pitt’s funding in more than a decade. The total appropriation — $136 million — is nearest to Pitt’s 1993 appropriation of $135 million.

When the University submitted its funding request to the legislature in the fall, it stated that tuition increases could be capped at 4 percent if Pitt received more state money.

Temple, another state-related university which receive state money in exchange for lower tuition for in-state students, announced its 10 percent tuition hike last week after the governor made the appropriations official.

Pitt officials have not stated what the tuition increase will be in advance of that meeting.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in a statement that he felt grateful the state cut less than Corbett’s originally proposed halving of Pitt’s funding would have, but the chancellor said that the remaining cuts are still “deep and disproportionate.”

“Among our most fundamental challenges will be to maintain high levels of access for students of modest means through tuition rates that are as competitive as possible and through further investments in our programs of financial aid; to provide appropriate levels of support to high-performing members of our faculty and staff, and to continue investing in the programmatic excellence that has come to distinguish Pitt,” Nordenberg said Friday.

Along with the 19 percent reduction to general appropriation, Pitt also faces a 50 percent reduction to its academic medical center funding, which will affect the School of Medicine, the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, the School of Dental Medicine Clinic and the Center for Public Health Practice in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health.

This leaves Pitt with state funding cuts that exceed $40 million in total.

“Reductions at that level, particularly following a decade of declining state support, obviously will subject the University to significant financial stresses,” Nordenberg said.

The other three Pennsylvania state-related universities also saw similar cuts to state funding.

The 14 Pennsylvania universities in the State System of Higher Education, which are separate from the state-related universities, are also losing 18 percent in state funding.

State student aid to increase

Since the cuts in state funding will most likely lead to an increase in in-state tuition, Pennsylvania students who are eligible will be able to receive more financial assistance through grants provided by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.

Tim Eller, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said that PHEAA was allocated $380.9 million in this year’s budget, a 2 percent decrease from last year.

The amount allocated in the budget will be supplemented by a PHEAA $50 million public service contribution, which will raise the individual maximum grant to $4,309. This is an increase of $807 from last year.

Keith New, a spokesman for PHEAA, said that the agency reached a financial situation strong enough this year to allow it to provide a $50 million supplement from its earnings to the state grant program.

“In keeping with our name, our public service mission to Pennsylvania is to help create affordable education to Pennsylvania students,” New said.

He said that the agency can benefit the most students by helping those who are truly struggling to pay for education. And although the agency’s decision to increase grants was not linked to any budget cuts, New said the agency is “very sensitive to the strain this [the budget cuts] places on Pennsylvania families.”

Eller said that in total, PHEAA will be giving $438 million in grants to students, an amount that is separate from any federal grants students may receive. All in-state students are eligible for these grants, regardless of which Pennsylvania school they are attending.

The appropriations arguments

Gov. Tom Corbett signed the bill into law late Thursday night. It allocated $136 million to Pitt as a state-related university, down from the $168 million the University received this year.

The state Senate and House both passed identical bills earlier in the week that outlined the 19 percent funding cuts. The bills passed nearly unanimously last Tuesday, after many Democrats reversed their position on the appropriations, which they had blocked the previous day.

The funding bill for all state-related schools required a two-thirds majority in both chambers and passed separate from the general spending bill, which Corbett also signed Thursday.

Last week, Lisa Scullin, a spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said that the Senate Democrats were still trying to hold out for more funding, but was unhopeful that they would get their way. When Tuesday afternoon rolled around, House Democrats had gotten on board with the 19 percent cuts.

G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, explained what made the Democrats reconsider the bill within a few hours.

“Democrats wanted to increase the funding, but the Republicans made it clear that it was 19 percent or nothing, and this left Democrats in an unusual position,” Madonna said. “If they didn’t provide the two-thirds vote, then the schools would get nothing.”

Scullin said that Senate Democrats have been pushing to try and restore funding to the state-related universities. They introduced a number of amendments to the state budget earlier in the week to try and increase funding to Pitt, but Scullin said the increases were shot down by

Republicans in a vote along party lines.

Democrats had sought more funding for state-related universities because the universities operate as “economic engines in the cities where they are located,” Scullin said.

“The key thing is trying to educate our workforce, trying to make Pennsylvania competitive in the global marketplace,” Scullin said. “And to do that, we need a highly educated workforce.”

Eric Shirk, a spokesman for Corbett, agreed that difficult choices had to be made since Pennsylavania faced a $4.2 billion deficit.

“During these economic hard times, Pennsylvania’s families and businesses have had to take similar steps, tightening their belts, making tough decisions and living within their means. Higher Education was only being asked to do the same,” Shirk said.

Stoll said that he realizes the cuts will put a strain on the universities.

“We recognize that it makes the universities have to find ways to do things differently and do more with less, and that’s never easy,” Stoll said.