By SUSAN JONES
Chancellor Joan Gabel will make her first official appearance before the state House Appropriations Committee at 1 p.m. Feb. 29, when she’ll join the leaders of the three other state-related universities — Penn State, Temple and Lincoln — for the annual budget hearing.
Unlike previous years, there is no hearing planned with the Senate Appropriations Committee. A spokesperson for committee chair Scott Martin (R–Berks/Lancaster) said, “Not every state entity is brought in for hearings every year. In fact, many are only brought in on a rolling basis. If we have questions or concerns pertaining to any state-related university budget request this year, we are confident we can resolve them by working directly with university leaders. However, if more significant or complex questions arise, we can also schedule a hearing at a later date.”
Pitt Day in Harrisburg will be March 19 this year. The Office of Government Relations and Advocacy is partnering with units across the University to arrange buses for the Pitt community from the Oakland, Bradford, Greensburg and Johnstown campuses. As with past years, faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the University are invited to attend. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with elected officials, tour the capitol and participate in a rally in support of the University’s state funding. Individuals interested in attending can sign up for more information here.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has requested a 5 percent funding increase this year for the state-related universities. Last year, he proposed a 7 percent hike, but when the funding was eventually passed in November — five months after the deadline — the schools saw no increase. The money Pitt gets from the state has not gone up since 2019.
In January, Shapiro released a new blueprint for higher education that proposes funding for the four schools be part of the Department of Education budget, which only requires a simple majority for passage, and that funding be tied to measurable outcomes. Currently, the state-related school funds are a nonpreferred appropriation, which is voted on separately from the main budget bill and requires a two-thirds majority for approval. These changes, if approved, would not take affect until next year.
The blueprint also calls for a merger of the state-owned schools and community colleges and “a predictable, transparent, outcomes-based funding system” that would apply to all the schools that the state funds. What those outcomes are will need to be determined.
The governor’s proposals are “ambitious,” said David Brown, vice chancellor for government relations and advocacy, “and we expect to see a lot of debate in the months ahead. We're already engaging with members of the General Assembly on how his proposal would impact the University and our students.”
At last year’s hearing, lawmakers pushed for more transparency from the state-related schools and for guaranteed tuition freezes for the 2023-24 school year. All of the leaders told the House Appropriations committee in March 2023 that they could not commit to this and would have to look at everything before making a decision.
In November, House Republican lawmakers passed a bill that tied a 7 percent increase in funding for the three larger schools to a tuition freeze in 2024-25. Each of the schools said that setting tuition was strictly the prerogative of their trustees. The funding increase was dropped in order to get the bill passed.
Pitt increased its tuition for 2023-24 by 2 percent for in-state students in Oakland, but kept it the same at the regional campuses. Penn State approved a plan in July that would raise tuition for undergraduates at the State College campus by 2 percent this year and next, but keep tuition the same at its regional campuses. Temple’s tuition went up 4.2 to 4.4 percent.
Temple also announced earlier this month that it will cover tuition and fees for incoming full-time students from Philadelphia County whose family income is $65,000 or less.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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