Tuition jump will depend on state budget

Pitt’s tuition rate will go up this year — how much, though, is still undecided.

The… Pitt’s tuition rate will go up this year — how much, though, is still undecided.

The tuition increases for in-state students, the majority of students at Pitt, depend on one of three proposed funding cuts floated by the two legislative branches and the governor.

Pitt’s Board of Trustees will meet on Friday, where it would normally pass a budget for the 2011-12 school year. However, that budget — which includes the price of tuition — will likely not be passed at the meeting because the state legislature has not passed its budget yet. The state has a constitutionally-mandated June 30 deadline for its budget, but that doesn’t mean a decision is guaranteed, as the state has frequently breezed past the date in the past 10 years.

The board might wait to pass a budget — and raise tuition — until the state passes its budget, although it does not always do so. In 2009, the board increased tuition in July, but with a condition; tuition might go up more if Pitt received less in state or federal stimulus funding than the University counted on.

Fedele said that the board likely will not act the same way it did in 2009.

“We haven’t been able to pass a budget at the June Board meeting for many years. As such, the annual operating and capital budgets, along with the tuition-rate schedules, have been passed in July or later by the Budget Committee of the Board,” Fedele said.

When Pitt made its original appropriations request to the Commonwealth last September, it said it would cap tuition increases at 4 percent if the state increased the institution’s funding by 5 percent. But no matter which branch of the Pennsylvania state government gets its way, Pitt’s funding will be decreased, meaning tuition will likely rise more than 4 percent.

“Obviously we are not getting a 5 percent increase, but if we did it would still be true that we would hold tuition increases to 4 percent,” Fedele said in an email.

Even though nothing is finalized, it’s definite that Pitt faces a reduction in its state appropriation. When the governor first introduced his proposal in March, the largest of the three proposed cuts, Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said that such cuts would mean an increase in tuition for Pitt students.

The governor’s proposal would halve Pitt’s total funding, the state Senate’s bill would cut it by about 15, and the House’s bill would cut it by 25 percent. However, the governor’s proposal has become increasingly less likely, as legislators from both parties have come out in opposition of the bill. The final budget will need approval by both parts of the legislature and a signature from the governor to become law.

In addition to state cuts, Pitt also loses more than $20 million in federal stimulus funds for the next fiscal year. Last year, Pitt received $184 million in state and federal appropriations. The state gave $160 million, and the remainder came from stimulus funds. The state proposals work off of the $160 million appropriation.

The state appropriations that Pitt receives are meant to help state-related universities lower the cost of tuition for in-state students. University officials have repeatedly said that the less funding Pitt receives, the more in-state tuition will rise. Pitt’s money, along with the appropriations for Penn State, Temple and Lincoln Universities, are separate from the 14 universities in the State System of Higher Education.

State Sen. Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) sponsored the Senate’s budget proposal, which had the lowest cuts at 15 percent. He said he wanted the funding for state-related universities to be as high as possible.

“I am a strong supporter of higher education, and the amount of tax dollars that we invest in state-related universities we can see the tremendous benefit that students get,” Corman said.

Corman is aware that any cut in funding will have an impact on the students, especially through the rising price of tuition. But he said that his bill is better than the 52 percent funding cut that Gov. Tom Corbett proposed in March, which would leave Pitt with only $80 million in state appropriations.

Kevin Harley, the governor’s spokesman, told The Pitt News in March that Corbett’s proposed cuts would be the first step in changing the formula for the future on funding for higher education. He said Corbett wanted to fund the students rather than the universities, which he said have not been held accountable for yearly tuition increases.

The House bill, which was sponsored by state Rep. William Adolph (R-Delaware), will restore $45.7 million to Gov. Corbett’s proposal, giving Pitt 75 percent of the funding it received this year. With this bill, Pitt would get $125.9 million from the state, a reduction from the $160 million Pitt received this year.

Mike Stoll, a spokesman for Adolph, said that the legislature was surprised by the amount of cuts Corbett proposed for higher education.

“By and large, the legislature feels that higher education is something that is a priority and is also something that is important as we’re trying to prepare Pennsylvania students to enter a very competitive workforce that is a global workforce now,” Stoll said.

However, Stoll said that one very important factor in the state budget is the $3 billion that the Commonwealth lost this year in federal funding, $100 million of which went to higher education.

“While we have limited resources compared to last year, the legislature still felt higher education needed to be a priority and shouldn’t have to deal with magnitude of cuts proposed by the governor,” Stoll said.