By SUSAN JONES
The fate of state funding for Pitt and the three other state-related universities isn’t much clearer today than it was at the end of the regular legislative session in June.
The funding of the four schools (Pitt, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln), whether bundled together in one bill or voted on separately, requires a two-thirds majority of the state House and Senate. This has proven an insurmountable number over the past few months, particularly in the House, where there are 102 Democrats and 101 Republicans.
In the latest move, House Democrats last week shifted the $643 million requested by the governor for the four schools — a 7 percent increase from last year’s appropriation — into a grant program in legislation that, they say, requires only a simple majority vote, the Associated Press reported. They passed the legislation by a 115-88 vote, and sent it to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it sits in the Appropriation Committee.
Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), whose district includes Pitt–Greensburg, said she thinks lawmakers need to “approve the funding as soon as possible, so that it can continue to help in-state students and their families.” All four schools use the state money exclusively to give in-state tuition discounts.
But Ward said “a constitutional question exists with the recently approved grants passed by the House.” She would prefer passage of the state-related school funding be done as it has in the past with the required two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives and Senate, but she said for the future, “We are always looking to avoid these prolonged delays in funding. A larger conversation is taking place regarding the two-thirds vote requirement.”
Democratic Rep. Dan Frankel, whose district includes Oakland, said, “Some Republicans have decided to use the in-state tuition discount to try to wield power on their culture war issues, like access to abortion health care and gender affirming care. These are issue I feel strongly about, too, and I will gladly have those debates. But I believe that it’s wrong to use Pennsylvania’s students as leverage.”
He said he’d like for lawmakers to find a way to fund the in-state tuition discount with a simple majority, “so that a small number of far-right lawmakers cannot put it in peril again and again, and so that universities can reasonably plan their budgets.”
Without the state funding, Frankel said, “My guess is that (the state-related schools) would have to reimagine their whole budget, but the biggest change would be higher costs for in-state students.”
Democratic House Speaker Joanna McClinton said, “It is important to make sure post-secondary education is affordable. The General Assembly should be doing everything it can to improve college affordability in the commonwealth, including providing more state funding to our state-related universities.”
She has an issue with some state House Republicans, who are “withholding their support for funding for the University of Pittsburgh and other state-related schools to score political points with the extreme reaches of their base. This extreme action hurts our students, universities and the communities that support them.”
McClinton noted that the House has sent a funding bill to the Senate, in the grant legislation, “and thus far the Republican controlled Senate has not taken up the bill.”
The two House Republicans whose districts include Pitt’s Johnstown and Bradford campuses both say they know how important the funding is to the regional campuses and to their regions.
Rep. Jim Rigby of Cambria County said he voted yes when Pitt’s funding was in a separate bill, but no when it was bundled together with the other three schools. He said he got some backlash from Republican colleagues over the vote to support Pitt — some in the GOP have criticized the University’s research using fetal stem cells from voluntary abortions — “but I had to support my district.” He noted that Pitt–Johnstown is one of the largest employers in the district.
He said some colleagues are upset the schools refused to guarantee a tuition freeze and that each year the schools request more money. He suggested the schools might be top heavy and “Maybe they can find some ways to reduce there to cut tuition.” And he said if funding for the four schools is going to be bundled together in one bill, “we have to have a better resolution on what we’re doing going forward with all of them and be fair about it.”
But for now, he said, the state legislature needs to come to some resolution on this funding. “The state-relateds are being held hostage,” Rigby said.
Rep. Martin Causer (R-Bradford) knows first hand the value of a Pitt education, as a graduate of the Bradford campus, and has heard from many constituents about Pitt’s funding.
“This funding is vital,” Causer said, particularly for rural campuses like Pitt–Bradford. He said there’s been lots of discussion about funding for the state-related schools, but “it should have been passed by now.”
He said he strongly supports funding for all four schools, and will keep pushing until it gets passed.
Students, families and other members of the Pitt community need to be reaching out to their legislators, Causer said, “so House and Senate members hear loud and clear what this funding means.”
The Office of Government Relations and Advocacy also is urging Pitt supporters to speak out to lawmakers. An email on Oct. 15 said more than 5,000 members of the Pitt community have contacted their legislators so far this year. Anyone who wants to contact their elected officials can use the form at with.pitt.edu or call the officials.
“We remain optimistic the General Assembly will pass a bill funding Pitt and the other state-related universities soon,” said David Brown, vice chancellor for government relations and advocacy. “We’re in regular discussions with leadership on both sides of the aisle and are working hard on behalf of the nearly 17,000 in-state students who are waiting for our appropriation.”
The University Times also reached out to Republican Rep. Eric Nelson, whose district includes Pitt–Greensburg, but got no reply. Nelson has been vocal in his opposition to funding for the state-related schools. He has instead proposed that the money given to the state-related universities be redirected to a voucher system that would allow students to use the funds at any institution in the state, including trade schools, community colleges and private universities.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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