Pitt,+Penn+State+to+get+19%+funding+cuts

= Reductions not as severe as Corbett proposed = =By Laura Olson= =//Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette//= =//6/24/11//= = = =HARRISBURG -- State House members began moving legislation today that will provide less funding for the state-related universities than last year but more than what Gov. Tom Corbett proposed in his original budget.= =Those four schools -- Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University -- will each see their state funding cut by about 19 percent for the upcoming year. That's a boost from the 50 percent reduction that Mr. Corbett outlined in his March address.= =For Pitt, that will mean a state contribution of $136 million. The school received about $168 million in the current budget, which included about $7.5 million from federal stimulus funds that were not available for next year.= =Still, the minority Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, which voted this morning along party lines to approve those cuts, said the General Assembly was ignoring the more than $600 million in excess tax collections that could be used to help college students.= =Rep. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon, said the proposed reduction for those four schools is much deeper than what they lost in stimulus dollars and cuts into what they received in state aid last year. He and others said those cuts will result in higher tuition for students.= =House Appropriations Chairman Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, noted that the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, known as PHEAA, will be providing an additional $50 million in grants for next year. That will boost the maximum grant levels to $4,200, up from last year's $3,500.= =The 14 colleges in the State System of Higher Education are expected to see a cut of about 18 percent in the budget framework reached yesterday.= =Funding for the state-related universities is expected to be approved next week with a handful of other measures related to the state budget.= =Reacting to today's developments, the president of the union representing 6,000 State System faculty and coaches expressed deep concern in a statement and warned of program cuts, larger class sizes and faculty layoffs in addition to substantially higher tuitition.= ="The news coming out of the state Legislature will devastate our universities," said Steve Hicks, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties. "The previously proposed 15 percent cut was already a major blow to our institutions."= =He said an 18 percent reduction is a $90.6 million loss for the 14 state-owned schools -- $15 million worse than the version previously approved by the House. Those schools include California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock universities in western Pennsylvania.= ="An 18 percent cut in the state appropriation translates to a tuition hike that could be as high as 10 percent -- almost $600 a year," Mr. Hicks said. "The state budget should not be balanced on the backs of Pennsylvania's working families, especially at a time when the state has a $600 million surplus."= =Officials with the State System could not immediately be reached for comment.= =Read more: [] =

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