University Times

Decreasing the average full-time equivalent (FTE) instructional faculty salary by $1,000 at the state-related and state-owned universities would save nearly $12 million, while increasing the average class section by one student would save about $24 million, according to an analysis by the state legislature’s research agency based on 2009-10 data submitted by the schools.

That computation was part of a 55-page report, “Instructional Output and Faculty Salary Costs of the State-related and State-owned Universities,” also known as the Snyder report, posted online recently by the Pennsylvania’s Joint State Government Commission (JSGC).

The annual report, now in its 38th year, summarizes instructional outputs, instructional faculty salary costs, tuition and state instructional appropriations and student aid, based on data submitted by the institutions. The analysis, its authors state, is intended for use “by legislators for making appropriation decisions; by university administrators for evaluating policies related to faculty outputs, salaries and workloads, and by Pennsylvania citizens for making informed judgments about the levels and shares of costs related to public higher education in the Commonwealth.”

The authors caution that the average faculty salaries in the report are not equivalent to averages reported elsewhere because they include only instructional faculty salaries and not non-instructional faculty salaries. In addition, the report does not provide a total of all instructional costs because non-salary expenditures are not included in the university data.

State-related schools

Enrollment

According to the report, the state-related schools in 2009-10 had 125,968 full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate students enrolled, including 72,901 FTE freshman and sophomore students (an increase of 1 percent over 2008-09) and 53,067 FTE juniors and seniors, a 4 percent increase.

Graduate-level FTE students totaled 12,884 in master’s programs, up 4 percent, while first-professional (excluding medical school) and doctoral students fell 1 percent from the prior year to 11,689.

Pitt reported 16,250 FTE freshmen and sophomores, a 3 percent increase; 8,414 FTE juniors and seniors, a 4 percent increase; 6,151 FTE master’s students, a 5 percent increase, and 3,090 FTE first-professional and doctoral students, a decrease of 1 percent.

State-related Pitt, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln collectively conferred a total of 34,189 degrees, an increase of 8 percent from the prior year. That total included 25,340 bachelor’s degrees (up 9 percent from the prior year) and 8,849 graduate degrees (up 4 percent.)

Pitt showed a one-year increase of 68 bachelor’s degrees for a total of 4,956, and 163 additional graduate degrees for a total of 2,968.

Faculty salary costs

Instructional faculty salary costs per FTE undergraduate student fell an average of 2 percent at the state-related schools, dropping to $2,762. Costs were up for master’s level faculty, rising 3 percent to $5,771 per FTE student.

At Pitt, instructional faculty salary costs were down 7 percent for undergraduates, falling to $2,685, but held steady at $5,422 per FTE master’s student.

Class sizes

Undergraduate classes averaged 28 students, unchanged from the prior year; master’s level class sizes increased 7 percent to 16 students.

At Pitt, the average undergraduate class size was unchanged at 28; master’s classes averaged 18 students, up 6 percent from the prior year.

Tuition

Tuition for in-state undergraduate students averaged $12,139, an increase of 10 percent, while out-of-state undergrads’ average tuition was $21,100, up 9 percent.

For in-state graduate students, tuition averaged $14,535, up 10 percent; for out-of state graduate students, tuition was $23,933, up 8 percent.

At Pitt, tuition and fees averaged $14,154 for in-state undergraduate students, up 10 percent, and $23,852, up 7 percent, for out-of-state undergrads. For graduate students, Pitt in-state tuition and fees averaged $17,092, up 10 percent; out-of-state grad students averaged $29,384, an increase of 7 percent.

State-system schools

The 14 state-owned schools enrolled 64,428 FTE freshmen and sophomores (up 4 percent); 33,647 FTE juniors and seniors (up 3 percent); 11,008 FTE master’s students (up 8 percent), and 959 FTE first-professional and doctoral students, up 2 percent.

The 14 schools collectively conferred 23,513 degrees, a 1 percent increase from the prior year. The number of undergraduate degrees conferred fell by a fractional amount to 18,043, while graduate degrees awarded rose 5 percent to 5,470.

However, half of the state-owned schools conferred fewer total degrees: Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Indiana, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Slippery Rock and West Chester all showed negative numbers, ranging from fractional decreases at Mansfield and West Chester to a 25 percent drop at Cheyney. Bloomsburg, California, Clarion, Edinboro, Kutztown, Millersville and Shippensburg all had gains.

Faculty salary costs at the state-system schools averaged $3,393 per FTE undergraduate, up 2 percent, and $4,436 per FTE master’s student, representing a fractional change.

Undergraduate class sizes averaged 26, an increase of 4 percent at the state-system schools, while master’s classes averaged 15 students, an increase of 7 percent.

Tuition and fees were up an average of 9 percent for in-state students, totaling $7,345 for undergrads and $8,377 for graduate students. Out-of-state students saw average increases of 8 percent with tuition and fees rising to $14,288 for undergrads and $12,524 for grad students.

The full report can be viewed at http://jsg.legis.state.pa.us/.

The individual schools’ submissions are posted on the state Department of Education web site under the heading “Snyder Report” at www.education.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/the_snyder_report/12959.

The JSGC also has posted an annual analysis of information disclosures submitted to the state by Pitt and its fellow state-related universities. (See related story, this issue.)

—Kimberly K. Barlow