If Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed 5-percent cut in state university funding is approved, Pitt… If Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed 5-percent cut in state university funding is approved, Pitt students may yet again be forced to bear the burden of a significant tuition hike.

Though still in the beginning stages, this funding cut is among the items listed in the first half of the governor’s $21 billion spending proposal that was offered to legislators March 4.

If the cut is approved, Pitt will receive only $163.3 million in state funding for fiscal year 2004, which begins Oct. 1. This would be $14 million less than the amount received in fiscal year 2001 and about $5 million less than the amount Pitt is receiving this fiscal year.

According to a university statement, “These reductions impose a disproportionate burden on the University and place Pitt at funding levels comparable to those of the late 1990s.”

Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill explained that such a proposed cut in state appropriations would put a strain on the University budget and force Pitt to rely more heavily on other sources of revenue, including tuition and some private philanthropies.

Though Hill warned that it is still too early to make predictions concerning a raise in next year’s tuition comparable to last years’ 14-percent hike, other state university officials see it as an inevitability.

Tysen Kendig, Pennsylvania State University spokesman, said that another cut in state funding, in addition to the $29 million in funding cuts his university has received over the past 1 1/2 years, means “we are facing some dramatic tuition increases.”

“We are facing some very serious ramifications as far as tuition levels,” Kendig said.

He went on to say that in order to offset the lack of state funding and threatening tuition increases Penn State will look to make “any cutbacks that a department can make without lessening the quality of education.”

Stephen Carr, vice chair of Pitt’s Faculty Senate Budget Committee, fears the 5-percent cut in appropriations in combination with rising health care cost may lead to “a major cut in health care benefits [for some Pitt employees].” He went on to explain that “it is hard to say how deep the cuts are going to be.”

“The cuts in the governor’s budget proposal were broad faced and across the board,” said Tom Hickey, a spokesperson for the governor’s office.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Pittsburgh, said that all the groups receiving appropriations experienced a cut, some more dramatic than others.

In the face of a $2.4 billion deficit, Frankel said, “Rendell [with the first part of his spending proposal] wanted to show Pennsylvania what was going to be required but he didn’t expect it to pass.”

The best-case scenario, Frankel said, that Pitt could hope for is “just maintaining what the university got last year.”

“As a result of the budget package, Gov. Rendell is willing to offer the universities managers and productivity experts to help find cost saving efforts and combat tuition hikes next year,” said Hickey, who went on to explain that this is a detail associated with the proposal that has, thus far, been overlooked.

Hickey said the governor is “optimistic that colleges and universities could cut waste.”

Hill said that in response to the likely budget cut Pitt is currently working with legislators in Harrisburg and they are “hoping that we will ultimately get an appropriation that is favorable to the university.”