Editorial: Stimulus grant a good gesture to make up for bad policy

‘ ‘ ‘ In the beginning of February, Gov. Ed Rendell proposed tuition relief aimed at helping… ‘ ‘ ‘ In the beginning of February, Gov. Ed Rendell proposed tuition relief aimed at helping students attending Pennsylvania’s state system universities and community colleges to alleviate their financial woes. It could give up to $7,600 per year to students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year, reducing pressure from tuition and other expenses. ‘ ‘ ‘ Left out from this plan, though, were students at the state-related universities ‘mdash; Pitt, Penn State, Lincoln and Temple. Those students were excluded from tuition relief even as Rendell’s budget cut appropriations to their schools, all but guaranteeing a tuition hike. ‘ ‘ ‘ Rendell attempted to fix this omission Tuesday with $42 million of federal stimulus funds, which are going to the state-related schools as a replacement for the budget cuts Rendell made previously. And while the move is certainly a good gesture, it may be a classic case of too little, too late. ‘ ‘ ‘ Even though Rendell’s proposal theoretically brings the budgets of the state-related schools back in line with their pre-cut estimates, Pitt spokesman Robert Hill said that it’s too early to tell whether or not Pitt will experience a tuition hike. However, Penn State’s president Graham Spanier told reporters yesterday that Penn State students could still expect a tuition increase between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent, and it’s difficult to see why Pitt should be any different. ‘ ‘ ‘ The problem is that the money only brings the budgets of the schools back to where it would have been had the state not cut out any funding. It doesn’t provide any additional relief, and unlike the tuition relief act, it gives the money directly to the universities rather than to students and their families. ‘ ‘ ‘ If nothing else, this grant is a Band-Aid measure, a temporary fix to a persistent problem. Pennsylvania has consistently given less and less money to state-related universities every year, and right now state appropriations only make up about 11 percent of Pitt’s annual budget. ‘ ‘ ‘ The fact that Rendell was willing to cut a good portion of that money in his original budget, and is only giving it back with federal stimulus money, should speak volumes in itself. And considering that state-related students also are cut out of his tuition relief act, it seems as though Pitt would be better off as a private university. ‘ ‘ ‘ We understand that it’s important for Pennsylvania to have a balanced budget, and the cuts to the state-related school funding were part of a series of necessary reductions in the budget as a whole, but the federal stimulus package isn’t going to be around to rescue the schools from budget cuts every year. What’s Rendell’s plan for reducing tuition hikes at state-system universities after the stimulus money is spent? ‘ ‘ ‘ It’s good that Rendell considered the state-related schools when deciding how to divvy up the stimulus money, but the fact remains that his administration has consistently slighted Pitt and the other state-related universities. ‘ ‘ ‘ Giving the schools money that he cut from their own budgets in the first place isn’t tuition relief, it’s common decency. Calling it anything else is a disservice to the schools and students he’s shortchanged so many times.