PASSHE Institutions Merging

[iupgroundhog]

Gov. Corbett promised "a thorough, public, and candid conversation" about the rising cost of higher education in announcing a budget that slashes state support to colleges for the second straight year.

The proposed cuts of up to 30 percent, on top of a nearly 20 percent reduction last year, are leading observers in Harrisburg and elsewhere to question whether a major shift is at hand: an effort to defund what some Republican legislators see as wasteful public universities in an era of shrinking resources.

"Do we need all these campuses?" State Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre) asked Tuesday, promising that the Senate would examine the proliferation of satellite campuses.


Elsewhere in the article:

"One elected official recently laid out an ultimatum," the governor said in his address. "He said, 'Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can't be a luxury. It is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.' Those were the words of President Obama in his State of the Union address last month."

Under Pa. plan, more cuts for state-system colleges (inquirer.com)

So yeah...if you raise your price, we'll cut your funding more! That's such non-sense.

Below is an article about the very 2009-10 budget that BoatCaptain has going down by 10%. So, something is off with BoatCaptain's numbers. Also, complaint hopeful you can google all you want but many of us have lived through this time period. The bottom line is that Republicans trying to say they support public education is a pathetic thing. It would be like Democrats saying they have a lot of evangelical Christians.

https://www.poconorecord.com/article...NEWS/902080331

[complaint_hopeful]

The money that came in was highly restricted (construction only)...the money Rendel cut from the PASSHE was general operating $'s. So a school could notionally build a building, but they couldn't hire the staff to work in it or even maintain it. Reference was provided previously.

And I agree with you. The cuts came have been coming since the early 80's. It's funny though that politicians cut the money they give PASSHE...and complain that tuition costs are going up.

It's really both sides as I've been maintaining. Some more dramatic than others. And some are more guilty of not fixing it than creating it.

[complaint_hopeful]

Wall Street on the Susquehanna: PASSHE Bond Scheme Bleeds Budget for Beautiful Buildings (Abbreviated) | ACADEME BLOG

[complaint_hopeful]

This was a problem that was built over some 20 years. There's definately more out there on Corbett than Rendell. I'm searching for specific Rendell items to try to be balanced.


'Wolf defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett, who upset many voters with big cuts to public schools and universities in his first budget, for 2011-12. As a result of that budget, PASSHE schools raised tuition 7.5 percent, to $6,240 for a full-time student. Tuition has risen 3 percent in each of the last three fiscal years and remains at $6,820.'

Pennsylvania higher education board reluctantly approves Gov. Tom Wolf's tuition freeze 'ultimatum' - The Morning Call (mcall.com)

[complaint_hopeful]

Gov. Corbett promised "a thorough, public, and candid conversation" about the rising cost of higher education in announcing a budget that slashes state support to colleges for the second straight year.

The proposed cuts of up to 30 percent, on top of a nearly 20 percent reduction last year, are leading observers in Harrisburg and elsewhere to question whether a major shift is at hand: an effort to defund what some Republican legislators see as wasteful public universities in an era of shrinking resources.

"Do we need all these campuses?" State Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre) asked Tuesday, promising that the Senate would examine the proliferation of satellite campuses.


Elsewhere in the article:

"One elected official recently laid out an ultimatum," the governor said in his address. "He said, 'Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can't be a luxury. It is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.' Those were the words of President Obama in his State of the Union address last month."

Under Pa. plan, more cuts for state-system colleges (inquirer.com)

So yeah...if you raise your price, we'll cut your funding more! That's such non-sense.

[boatcapt]

I don't think so. You say that year saw a 10% drop. How many millions of $ was that compared to how many millions came in from the stimulus? Please provide your references.

The money that came in was highly restricted (construction only)...the money Rendel cut from the PASSHE was general operating $'s. So a school could notionally build a building, but they couldn't hire the staff to work in it or even maintain it. Reference was provided previously.

[boatcapt]

Well, right now, the state is basically sitting on $5 billion out of $7 billion federal stimulus money. Perhaps PASSHE could use a bit of that. It's easy to play the political blame game, but it is indisputable at the moment that our state is a laggard in funding public higher education. About time they get off their collective butts in Harrisburg and actually accomplish something other than worrying about who won the last election.

It is. Just find it a little disingenuous when posters (and others) blame the whole PASSHE problem on Corbitt's 7% budget cut but completely ignore a larger cut by Rendel that occurred two years prior. If you believe that the ONLY reason the PASSHE is failing is because of lack of state $'s, then it seems the blame should be shared EVENLY by Corbitt AND Rendel.

[iupgroundhog]

Yep. Those federal $'s came with MANY strings, limits and reporting requirements. It was presented by Rendel (and other governors) as unrestricted money provided to the schools which allowed him to cut the state appropriation and spend it elsewhere. Reality as you point out was that the fed $'s were very restricted. Net effect was that the schools saw a very large drop in funds they could expend on day to day operations.

I don't think so. You say that year saw a 10% drop. How many millions of $ was that compared to how many millions came in from the stimulus? Please provide your references.

[boatcapt]

Well, he had to work out a state budget for a state that is in deep trouble. I think if the "I-80" Corridor folks (the same people whose state schools are consolidating) had permitted I-80 tolling or if PA had sold the Turnpike the state would be in better shape, overall. The education funding came back the next year until Corbett's cuts came in so I don't understand how the schools would be better off.

No...The year after Rendel cut the PASSHE budget by 10.8%, he requested the same allocation level ($444,470,000). The year after that (Corbitt's first budget) included his 7% cut.

Had Rendel not slashed the PA provided funds to the PASSHE and just maintained the budget at 2008-09 levels during his last two years, PASSHE would have had approx $110M in it's operating coffers.

[boatcapt]

Yep. Those federal $'s came with MANY strings, limits and reporting requirements. It was presented by Rendel (and other governors) as unrestricted money provided to the schools which allowed him to cut the state appropriation and spend it elsewhere. Reality as you point out was that the fed $'s were very restricted. Net effect was that the schools saw a very large drop in funds they could expend on day to day operations.

[iupgroundhog]

Rendel used the federal $ as a foil to cut state funds provided to the schools. Had he not done that, the PASSHE would be in a much better place financally than they are now.

Well, he had to work out a state budget for a state that is in deep trouble. I think if the "I-80" Corridor folks (the same people whose state schools are consolidating) had permitted I-80 tolling or if PA had sold the Turnpike the state would be in better shape, overall. The education funding came back the next year until Corbett's cuts came in so I don't understand how the schools would be better off.

[Ship69]

Rendel used the federal $ as a foil to cut state funds provided to the schools. Had he not done that, the PASSHE would be in a much better place financally than they are now.

Well, right now, the state is basically sitting on $5 billion out of $7 billion federal stimulus money. Perhaps PASSHE could use a bit of that. It's easy to play the political blame game, but it is indisputable at the moment that our state is a laggard in funding public higher education. About time they get off their collective butts in Harrisburg and actually accomplish something other than worrying about who won the last election.

[boatcapt]

As part of the federal stimulus package resulting from the Great Recession, states received a large one time infusion of federal dollars that was channeled into state education departments. The federal money offset state money that year so there was no reason to spend more via the state budget. That's why the negative number shows up for Rendell that year. Rendell was the most education-friendly governor we have had for a long time.

Rendel used the federal $ as a foil to cut state funds provided to the schools. Had he not done that, the PASSHE would be in a much better place financally than they are now.

[iupgroundhog]

That's a lot of anti-Rendell, anti-Philly BS. Throughout his entire career, not just as governor, he supported education from pre-kindergarten up to higher ed. I can't really speak to the IUP maintenance department feelings but Fast Eddie was all about public/private cooperation and that's one of the things that made him good. Aside from education, he also made a point of using the federal money by putting at least one economic development project in each of the 67 counties and he visited all 67 counties. He came to IUP. Did Corbett ever do that?

[complaint_hopeful]