Ever since the Great Recession that came into effect in 2008, state legislatures have struggled to balance their budgets and control their costs. There is certain spending that is mandatory for constitutional or contractual reasons, amongst them being K-12 education and pension payments. Higher Education, while vital to the advancement of the individual and society, is not such a protected category. In recent year’s public higher education, including the Pennsylvania State System for Higher Education, has come under attack by the legislature in the form of reductions to its state appropriation.
Before the recession, at the system’s high point, the system received $483,989.00 during 2007-2008 from the Commonwealth to subsidize tuition for in-state students and aid in funding system operations at the fourteen member universities. At the heart of the recession, due to financial problems, reductions in funding started to come into effect. The Commonwealth started out with a rather modest reduction of 1.4% in 2008-2009, reducing the state appropriation to $477,322.00. The ax then came again during 2009-2010, with a 6.9% appropriation reduction, reducing funding to $444,470.00. Funding then remained stable for one year during 2010-2011.
Then the earthquake finally and unfortunately hit. The Pennsylvania Legislature reduced funding for PASSHE by a further 18% to $412,751.00. This round of reductions came over a four year period and carried substantial and drastic consequences. As a result of the Pennsylvania Legislature reducing the annual appropriation to the state system for four consecutive years, the Board of Governors was forced into a position where they were required to raise resident undergraduate tuition at a rate higher than the rate of inflation, the highest tuition increase coming in 2011-2012 with a 7.5 percent increase. This substantially exceeded the rate of inflation and had a real and substantial impact on Pennsylvania residents.
The mission of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is to “provide a high quality education at the lowest possible costs to students.” With tuition rates rapidly increasing and with the state appropriation rapidly decreasing, students are at a high risk of being priced out of their state institutions. The Board of Governor’s surely does not want to raise tuition, but with a declining state appropriation, they are left without any choice; lights need to remain on and professors have to be paid. As a result, tuition skyrocketed from 2006-2007 to 2015-2016 by forty percent.
It of utmost important that PASSHE students band together and mobilize to get out the vote and make their voice heard in Harrisburg. They should not simply suffer in silence. PASSHE Universities are state institutions; they are not supposed to be run as businesses or charities. They are supposed to be predominately funded by the state to allow residents to get a high quality education and better their, and the Commonwealth's, future. Do not be apathetic. You can be the change; vote to give the words of PASSHE’s purpose meaning, without meaning they are nothing more than a useless aspiration.
