What does it take to rouse a college kid from bed early in the morning? Gov. Tom Corbett found out this week. His plan to cut higher ed by 50% next year brought a cavalry of young protesters to the State Capitol. We'll put Corbett's plan in the spotlight Thursday night at 8 on Smart Talk as state Budget Secretary Charles Zogby and State System of Higher Education Chancellor John Cavanaugh debate funding for state universities. Be sure to join the conversation. Call 1-800-729-7532 or send us an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Several hundred screaming, chanting, lobbying young adults certainly got the attention of lawmakers. During their Capitol-steps protest and at budget hearings this week, many members of the General Assembly expressed sympathy with the students at the 14 state-owned institutions. But they were noticeably less sympathetic to the plight of the four state-related schools -- Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln universities.
In an effort to fill a gaping $4 billion budget hole while holding firm to his promise not to raise taxes, Gov. Corbett aimed his ax at state subsidies for higher ed. He would cut support to the state-owned and related schools by 50% -- or more than $660 million.
Penn State University President Graham Spanier made his case to lawmakers and to the general public recently in an op-ed published by the Patriot News. He wrote, "The commonwealth has a serious structural deficit, and I support Gov. Tom Corbett's determination to get that budget back in balance. Penn State is willing to do its fair share. But the governor's proposal calling for a 52.4 percent reduction in Penn State's appropriation goes beyond our fair share. It is a decrease of $182 million and follows a decade of flat appropriations, including three midyear recessions.
"That's right. The university is operating today with no more state dollars than it received 10 years ago. Students and their families have had to absorb through tuition increases what tens of millions of dollars worth of internal university cuts alone could not do in the face of a decade of inflation and declining state support."
Spanier noted that Penn State uses the state monies to offset the cost of education for Pennsylvania residents and that freezing employee salaries won't make up the difference in the Corbett cuts. Instead, Spanier claimed, " ... we also would see layoffs and need to further reduce employee benefits, increase class sizes, postpone deferred maintenance, eliminate academic programs and perhaps close campuses and other units." The final step, Spanier asserted, would be to raise tuition. He noted that 81 percent of Penn Staters get financial aid and more than 60 percent have student loans.
That criticism didn't sit well with Gov. Corbett who has said, "I was sorely disappointed that the first reaction from Penn State was to say that this is a catastrophic budget. This is going to cause them to raise tuition and maybe close campuses. Rather than say, 'Let's talk a little and see what we can do. Let's do what every other business, what every other family is doing. Let's tighten our belts and see where we can save money.'" He gets a lot of support from a conservatives and the libertarian think tank, The Commonwealth Foundation, that has written a number of blog posts pointing out what it considers profligate spending by Penn State and other higher-ed institutions.
The CF's Charles Mitchell posted, "The areas to target are many (see our Top Ten List, or the Center for College Affordability and Productivity's 25 Ways to Reduce the Cost of College, or the American Council of Trustees and Alumni's Cutting Costs: A Trustee's Guide to Tough Economic Times), but just to take the aforementioned institutions in order: Penn State isn't fully utilizing its buildings, according to its own strategic plan. Pitt's administrative staff per 100 students grew by 54.7 percent between 1993 and 2007, according to the Goldwater Institute. Shippensburg allows its students to graduate without taking college-level math, a workforce essential, according to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. And both Millersville and IUP have policies that violate the First Amendment, which (in addition to being offensive to students' intelligence) can be expensive, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
"The protesting students are right: They are being disserved. But the culprit isn't Gov. Corbett or the taxpayers he's rightly trying to protect. It's the universities that are wrongly telling them they can't do more with less, just like everyone else in this economy." (By the way, in an eyebrow-raising aside, Scott Paterno, Joe Paterno's son and a former congressional candidate, argues that the governor and lawmakers should strip PSU of ALL its state funding. Scott argues PSU is big enough (state funding comprises just 3.8% of its budget) to absorb the cuts while the state-owned schools serve "the broadest swath" of Pennsylvania students and cannot sustain such a huge financial blow.)
Gov. Corbett also welcomed the schools to explore other avenues of cost-cutting and the union representing faculty and coaches at the state-system schools responded. The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, APSCUF, promptly voted to negotiate a wage freeze when their contract expires in June "in the context of similar sacrifice shared by our administrative and management counterparts."
We encourage you to join the conversation about higher education funding by calling in live at 8 on Thursday night to 1-800-729-7532. Or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or post a comment to www.facebook.com/witf.org.
