July 10, 2003
Board delays tuition vote pending outcome of state budget discussions
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
ThePennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors today postponed action on setting tuition rates for the 2003-04 academic year.
System leaders cited continuing efforts by the Legislature and the Rendell Administration to fashion a final state budget for the 2003-04 Fiscal Year, and System attempts to convince budget negotiators to restore a proposed 5 percent cut in System funding as reasons for delaying the vote.
The Board will schedule a special meeting to set the new rates.
The State System receives approximately 40 percent of its annual funding from the Commonwealth. The Legislature earlier this year approved a 2003-04 state budget that would appropriate a total of $417.2 million to the System to support its basic operations, although discussions on a final budget package have continued and remain unresolved.
As it currently stands the System would receive nearly $22 million less from the state this year than it did in 2002-03, and $42 million less than the System requested. That would necessitate the universities to reduce their budgets by a combined $40 million, even with a tuition increase of $220, or 5 percent, per student.
System representatives have been talking for weeks with legislators and administration officials in an attempt to get the state funding cuts restored.
“The Board agreed it would be in the State System’s best interest to wait until we have as much information as possible about available state dollars before we act on tuition,” said Board Chairman Charles A. Gomulka. “We hope to have that information soon, and, in the meantime, believe it is prudent to wait before setting the new rates.”
With more than 101,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 375,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg. The regional centers are part of the Educational Resources Group, which is responsible for coordinating statewide programming.