Is the state to blame for budget woes?

At Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting, Chancellor Nordenberg got his dander up about the… At Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting, Chancellor Nordenberg got his dander up about the decrease in funding from the state for the new fiscal year. While it’s nice to see Nordenberg getting feisty at a meeting that’s typically blooming-begonias positive, his motives may be questionable.

Nordenberg is upset that our state endowment is decreasing. Usually it increases from year to year to keep up with inflation and expenditures. The actual decrease in state funding from fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2003 is $8.9 million. According to Pitt’s Fact Book, 2002-2003, the revenue for the year was $1.3 billion. Only about 22 percent of that comes from tuition and fees. The state money comprises about 14 percent of the budget. So the $8.9 million, were it to be spread across the student body, would cut tuition by $580 per student.

It seems that Nordenberg both genuinely thinks the state is giving Pitt the shaft and is also trying to deliberately excuse tuition increases in light of recent faculty raises. Worse, could this be a pre-emptive strike against yet another crippling tuition increase? Are we moving from yellow to orange on the tuition alert scale?

The initial tuition raise this semester was blamed on the state. If we do get another one, it’s far easier to blame “Harrisburg,” a vague and difficult to pin down bad guy, rather than Pitt, Nordenberg or any specific individual or legislative group.

This also makes Nordenberg look like he’s going to bat for the lowly students. This would be a wise public relations move on his part in light of recent bad press he’s gotten over his 14 percent pay increase.

The chancellor also called into question Pennsylvania’s motives for the decrease. He said that Pitt needs to be a priority for the Commonwealth. Of course we do, but so do countless other state concerns. Gov. Ed Rendell has virtually assured us taxes will go up and the city of Pittsburgh is forever trying to come up with new revenue-generating schemes. We can still be a priority with a few less millions from the state.

The University needs to first look within for ways to deal with budget shortfalls. Tuition increases are one unfortunate method. Trimming fat across the board, distributed evenly across all departments and levels, is another. The state needs to help Pitt, but until it can, Pitt needs to help itself.