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Penn State has yet to receive any state funding to support the university’s operating budget this year but its trustees are poised to ask for millions of dollars more for next year.
A university trustees’ committee on Thursday voted to recommend the full board consider requesting $368.1 million from the state to support university operations. The board is scheduled to meet on Friday.
That amount would represent a nearly 42%, or $108.8 million, increase over the proposed $259.3 million that Penn State is slated to receive this year although the bill to provide that money failed to garner enough votes needed to pass the state House of Representatives in July.
Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for finance and business, told trustees the proposed increase for the university’s operating budget would go toward financial aid and student success, a 3% merit increase for faculty and staff, facilities upkeep, and strategic investments in health, education and STEM fields that are in-demand areas in the commonwealth.
She further justified the request by pointing out Penn State receives $5,757 per in-state student compared to Pitt’s $9,436 per in-state student, Temple’s $9,233, and the aggregated amount for the 10 schools in the Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education of $8,754.
In exchange for state support, Penn State offers a tuition discount to Pennsylvania students. They pay more than $15,000 less than non-resident students.
When next year’s requested appropriations for agricultural research and extension, Penn State Health and College of Medicine, Pennsylvania College of Technology, and special initiatives are added in with the desired state support for the university’s operating budget, it brings the total 2024-25 appropriation request to nearly $483.4 million. That would represent a 33% increase over this year’s $363.3 million appropriation that the university expects to receive.
The delay in receiving state funding was only briefly mentioned at the outset of the presentation to the committee and drew no discussion by the trustees.
The holdup in funding for Penn State as well as Temple, PItt and Lincoln universities stems from the insistence by dozens of House Republicans who want the schools to freeze tuition and provide more transparency about how the state dollars they receive are spent, among other reforms.
A House vote in July to provide funding to all four of these schools fell six votes shy of the required two-thirds majority needed to pass that chamber and be sent to the Senate for consideration.
University trustees later in July approved a two-year freeze on in-state tuition for students attending Penn State’s branch campuses while approving a 2% increase for in-state students at its University Park campus this year and again next year. That brings the two-semester tuition charge for a Pennsylvania freshman at the main campus in State College to $19,672. Tuition costs for many juniors and seniors at that campus range from $21,222 to $25,234, depending upon their majors.
Funding for these universities is one of a number of unfinished pieces of the state’s 2023-24 budget.
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