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Senate and House Republican lawmakers have crafted a college affordability plan that seeks to make Pennsylvania more competitive for both in-state and out-of-state students in high-demand fields in exchange for a requirement that they remain in the state after graduation.
The Grow PA proposal introduced on Wednesday also establishes a performance-based funding model for Penn State, Pitt and Temple universities, along with other ideas aimed at reversing the state’s decline in working age population that is putting greater stress on the state budget and potentially the loss of federal funding and representation in Congress.
A hearing on the initiative is expected to be held within the next few weeks, said Senate Education Committee Chairman David Argall, R-Schuylkill County. He identified it as the committee’s top priority.
The Republicans’ plan has bicameral support and serves as an alternative to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s ambitious higher education reform plan announced in January.
That plan’s proposed merger of the 10 State System of Higher Education universities with the 15 community colleges and addressing of college affordability has drawn criticism over its lack of detail, cost and creation of a new bureaucracy that may not produce cost-savings or enrollment growth.
Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder said in a statement that the administration looks forward to working with lawmakers to improve higher education and is encouraged by the Senate GOP leadership’s recognition that the higher education system needs to be “more competitive, create more opportunity for students and families, and address Pennsylvania’s workforce needs.
“We are glad legislators agree with Governor Shapiro that doing nothing is not an option and it is unacceptable for our commonwealth to rank 49th out of 50 states in investment in higher education.”
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana County, commended Shapiro for bringing forth higher education as a problem but based on the response he has heard, said the governor’s solution is “really not a solution. It doesn’t have a lot of viability.”
Pittman and others who spoke at a news conference in a Senate meeting room said the multi-faceted Senate plan doesn’t have to be considered as a single package and acknowledged some parts might take more than a month or two to develop.
“I think we’re going to take this one step at a time literally,” he said. “We’re going to prioritize the overall need to do something different in higher education.”
Specifically, their Grow PA plan, which would not tinker with the state’s need-based grant program, would provide Pennsylvania students up to $5,000-a-year grants if they are pursuing careers in a field where labor shortages exist. It also is targeting out-of-state students interested in studying one of those in-demand fields at a State System university by allowing them to pay the in-state tuition rate provided they maintain a 2.5 grade-point average.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Scott Martin, R-Lancaster County, identified nursing, education, criminal justice, and large animal veterinarians among the areas where workers are in high need now, but said over time, those fields could be shifted as workforce needs change.
In exchange for the grants and in-state tuition rate, grant recipients would be required to work in Pennsylvania 15 months for every year they receive a grant or it reverts to a loan, a Senate staffer said.
“If the grant is received all four years, then that’s five years of committing to working here in Pennsylvania with the hope that those individuals not only will get a job and a great family-sustaining career in PA, but we want them to plant their roots here,” Martin said. “We want them to get a mortgage here and to send their kids to our schools and try to turn around of [Pennsylvania’s] demographic decline.”
The plan also calls for:
- Reducing the grade-point average in the existing Ready to Succeed scholarship program for high performing college students from 3.25 to 2.5 and increasing the family income limit to at least $175,000 from the current $140,000.
- Opening up nationwide the state’s five-year-old Foster Ed program that waives tuition and fees not covered by financial aid for foster and adopted students who enroll in a State System school.
- Increasing the investment of career and technical schools, some of which have waiting lists to get into their programs.
Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford County, said the plan also lays the groundwork for a performance-based funding model that would apply at least initially to Penn State, Pitt and Temple universities. This funding approach would allow taxpayers to know what return they are getting for their investments in state-supported institutions. This year, those schools are receiving more than $585 million combined.
He said the leaders of these universities recognize the need for accountability “to ensure that our students are getting what they need and then providing Pennsylvania what they need.”
Martin said the cost of the program would be determined at the negotiating table for the state budget. Whatever the cost, Pittman identified a potential source of revenue that his caucus is willing to explore: taxing and regulating games of skill, which Shapiro’s budget proposal estimates could generate more than $150 million at a 42% tax rate.
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