The heads of the four state-related universities facing deep cuts for the second year in a row say state funding is a major piece of their budgets. 

Presidents of Penn State, Pitt, and Temple told the state House Appropriations Committee the Corbett administration’s call for a 30 percent reduction in their state appropriation is too harsh.  The administration’s go-to argument in the days after the budget plan was unfurled was that the proposed cuts represent a small percentage of the institutions’ overall operating budgets.

But the universities’ leaders countered their total budgets are made up of a wide array of sources and large sums are often dedicated to specific purposes.

Penn State president Rodney Erickson said questions are often raised about his institution’s endowment, and whether it can be used to defray rising costs.

“The answer is no.  Those funds were entrusted to us as endowment to continue to grow those funds and use the proceeds off of them for specific purposes,” said Erickson.  “To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever given the university money to pay the electric bill.”

The governor’s proposed reductions of almost $150 million come a year after the state cut about $140 million in aid to state-related schools.  Penn State, Pitt and Temple contend the proposed cuts will force them to become more like private institutions – with higher tuition, and possibly fewer branch campuses.

Penn State’s president says his university’s branch campuses are safe for the time being, but the proposed cuts to state funding raise questions about their future.

Mark Nordenberg, chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, said if his schools’ tuition absorbed the full brunt of the proposal, it would mean a rate hike of 18 percent for in-state students.

“If you look at what is happening through these accumulating cuts, basically we’re being pushed to being private institutions.”

Lincoln University’s funding would be held level under Corbett’s spending plan. 

“If we have to take a cut, we would have to pass an additional $1350 dollars on to our students in tuition,” said Lincoln’s president, Robert Jennings.  He added that, historically, such rate increases resulted in up to seven percent of students not returning to Lincoln the following year.

The majority chairman of House Appropriations, Rep. Bill Adolph, said the budget hearing with the university presidents was just the beginning of negotiations, and reminded those in attendance that the state is still facing a fiscal year-end shortfall of several hundred million dollars.