The Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) has set aside $31.2 million from its 2005-06 budget to reward the 14 state-owned Universities that demonstrate success in the areas of student achievement, academic excellence and operational efficiency.

The Board has increased the amount of performance funding available to the Universities every year since the program’s creation in 2000-01, when $2 million was distributed. Last year, a total of $21.7 million was awarded to the PASSHE Universities based on performance.

“The performance funding program was designed to encourage excellence across the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education,” said Chancellor Judy G. Hample. “It rewards both performance and improvement in the areas that matter most. It is a key component of our efforts to have PASSHE be recognized among the best public university systems in the nation.”

The performance funding program also demonstrates PASSHE’s commitment to being fully accountable for both the Commonwealth funding and the tuition dollars it receives, Hample said.

The funds that will be distributed to the Universities this year based on their performance will come from two sources. The Board of Governors approved allocating approximately $22.3 million from the System’s $1.2 billion operating budget – an amount equivalent to 5 percent of PASSHE’s base appropriation from the Commonwealth – and an additional $8.9 million of the $16 million provided by the state for special “program initiatives” for performance funding. The special appropriation portion of the funding must be used by the Universities specifically for academic program accreditation and library resources.

To receive a share of the performance funding, the Universities must demonstrate an improved level of performance on a series of “indicators,” which include student retention and graduation rates, degrees awarded, instructional cost per student and the percentage of instructional faculty with terminal degrees in their discipline, among others. The Universities qualify for a share of the funding based on their own improvement on a set of eight performance measures, how well they fare compared to their own set of peer institutions outside of PASSHE on those same measures, and on their performance in regard to System wide goals.

With nearly 106,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth.  The 14 PASSHE universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study.  More than 400,000 PASSHE 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. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.