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PA Schools Raising Tuition to Compensate for State Budget Cuts

By Jamie Brackman, Contributing Writer

Major Keystone State universities like Penn State and Pitt will be increasing tuition costs for students in the upcoming academic year due to state budget cuts.  

State related universities are tasked with recouping a nineteen percent cut in state funding, The Hellertown Lower-Saucon Patch reported, a figure that includes severe reductions for Penn State ($63 million), University of Pittsburgh ($31.2 million), Temple University ($32.8 million) and Lincoln University ($2.6 million). 

The state budget also slashed funding for the fourteen schools covered by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education PASSHE by $70 million, nearly 15%.  

The Associated Press reported that Penn State would raise tuition by about 4.9 percent, or $700 annually, for in state freshman and sophomores (out-of-state underclassmen will see their annual cost rise 3.5 percent).  This is a smaller tuition increase than had been anticipated.  

“I’m able to present a balanced budget, despite the largest decreases to our state appropriation in our history,” Penn State President Graham Spanier said. “This budget assumes a tuition increase that would generally be reflective of a normal year.”

At Pitt, increased student tuition will generate about $28 million, leaving a $4 million gap still to fill.  General in state tuition for students at Pitt’s main campus will increase 8.5 percent to $15,272, while out of state tuition will increase by 4 percent.  

In-state Temple students, meanwhile, will shoulder a nine percent increase to tuition, which will produce an estimated $30 million for the university.  “Support from the state has been on the decline in the past few decades” said Ray Betzner, Temple’s assistant vice president of university communications.  

The fourteen schools under PASSHE – – still the lease costly option for Pennsylvania-bound students — will raise tuition by 7.5, which is projected to generate $56 million dollars.  “We were committed from the start not to put the entire cut on the students,” said Kenn Marshall, a PASSHE spokesman, but “tuition had to make up some of the reductions.”

One Response

  1. This is the mantra. Less taxpayer money to University Administrators means higher tuition for middle class students. An analysis of hours worked by professors and the number of administrators hired reveals that faculty and administrators are benefiting at expense of The Forgotten Taxpayer.

    Tuitions have gone up far in excess of rate of inflation have been driven by taxpayer subsidized Student Loans as well taxpayer cash subsidies. Not because the product – student learning – has improved. Student Loans are the next Subprime Mortgage Debt Debacle.

    UPENN is a tax exempt private corporate billionaire with an annual budget of $6.07 billion. UPENN pays only payroll taxes and no property taxes and is the second largest employer in Penna. after Wal*mart.

    Penn State has an annual budget of $4 billion and owns seven airplanes and has its own airport.

    Temple U and UPITT are also tax exempt private corporate billionaires.

    Why, exactly, are taxpayers supporting billionaire corporations?

    For more See The Liberty Blog Millions for Billionaires. http://thelibertyblog.org/category/nonprofit /

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