Pennsylvania Governor Proposes 50% Budget Cut for State Colleges

Looks like the value of my Pennsylvania GSP accounts pegged to Penn State tuition will be going up.

I think that each of you is missing the reasons for the current situation. Everyone suffers when liberal spending runs rampant for decades. Think back to how you’ve voted, and whom you’ve sided with. HE has been digging its own grave for decades. Logically, you cannot sit there with your hand out, encourage others to do the same, and then get upset when the funding runs dry.

State university systems have been bloated for some years while privates have had to muster for everything they get. The reality is that public educational systems were meant to serve those who could not afford private education. A noble mission. But the many of Penn State’s students are not from the lower ranks of the economic stratum. Many are from families who can pay but they like the low tuition costs. Meanwhile the athletic budgets have gone up and up at public universities. Sure they produce some revenue at the flagship football schools, but why should the public pay for the Penn State Behrend tiddlywinks team?

Another example of a politican drinking the same cool aide and not seeing the long term destructive results. Where are the alumni of these schools and parents of students? We seem to be in this election cycle where politicans have lost track of what key tool has made us world leaders – EDUCATION!

Well, the alumni can feel free to chip in the remaining needs if they like. This is all about money. I’ve yet to hear about a ‘private institution’ complaining about how they are not getting money from the state :) It must work for them.

While Penn State’s students are not from the lower ranks, many students at Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Mansfield, Cheyney, West Chester, Edinboro, Slippery Rock…are. I was, too.

The problem with holding up private colleges as an example of how one can operate without state support is that when states cut public college budgets, rarely do they ease the rules and regulations under which they make them operate. So the red tape remains in everything from employment to purchasing (not to mention political interference and state control over governance), yet the funds to fulfill these mandates disappear.

The state system (PASSHE) schools are going to feel this much more painfully than the state-related schools (Pitt, Penn State, etc.) as the PASSHE Governors have consistently held the line on tuition increases to keep access affordable. At this point PASSHE schools are running undergrad classes with as many as 100 students; even graduate courses of 40 or more — this because of faculty lines unfilled for lack of funds. It seems to me that the state system schools are going to either have to severely cut the number of academic programs they offer or give up on the idea of the high-quality, instructor-guided education we’ve provided for over 150 years.

The State System of Higher Education is going to suffer

Gov. Corbett and a good number of other recently elected Republican Governor’s are all playing the same game – Three Card Monte. This deceptive scam is also known as “A Street Hustle”. That’s where they played it last Fall with unparalled deception. Corbett went up and down the streets of Pennsylvania playing the “job creation card”, and the “reduce the state budget” card. Keystoners should easily remember the example he used to illustrate how the state budget would be reduced. He stated it in EVERY speech and in EVERY radio and TV ad. No, it wasn’t to cut public jobs, or cut access to Higher Education. This Governor, if elected, was going to cut deeply into the Commonwealth’s Motor Pool. That’s right. The motor pool, fewer cars, fewer trucks, less gasoline costs, maintenance costs, etc., and huge income from the sale of these excess state assets. So lets check the score now – three months after he takes office. How many vehicles have been removed from service? How much income has the state realized from the sale of the excess motor inventory? How many jobs have been created? How many jobs have been lost? How many (estimate) jobs will be lost if Corbett proceeds to cut funding to higher education at the levels he has announced? How long are we the people, going to be so stupid as to fall for this deceptive campaign rhetoric, time and time again? Now more than ever the public needs “Referendum and Recall” legislation in order to protect itself from individuals like Corbett, and many others like him, who are elected by deceptive means.

So I’m waiting for the next PA business leader to register yet another complaint about how his firm suffers from the lack of adequately educated people in their work force. How long will it take these idiots to realize that they are throwing out the baby with the bathwater? Cheap (relatively at least) public education pays dividends. Creating an all but tax-free business environment in PA won’t be of any benefit when there isn’t anyone here educated enough to do the necessary work. There is NO WAY the SSHE schools can function with a 50% budget cut and still provide any semblance of a quality education. I doubt that we could retain our certification. Maybe they plan to close these schools down and use the buildings for raising poultry. There is certainly enough chicken manure being spread around in the system already, why not go all out? Will the last person out please turn out the lights.

Penn State students pay $15,000 in tuition alone per year. That’s $60,000 for a BA/BS.

How much do you think they should pay? In much of PA, $60K *is* a mortgage–not that they can settle down there, because there’s no place to work.

I’ve yet to see where Pennsylvania’s publics have put forward their own solution for the state’s budget challenges. Instead, we are treated to various forms of pouting. Does anyone really believe that public higher ed merits exemption from the realities of an economic crisis? Is its funding stream more important than housing for the poor, public transit, school lunches, highways or care for the elderly?

It’s not enough to rant about the disaster this proposal will cause. What are the alternatives?

Temple and Pitt are state-related; what are the other two universities in PA with that designation? Is Penn State one or is it a state university but not in the SSHE system?

Penn State cannot afford to go private. The state owns everything: all the land, the buildings, and everything inside the buildings right down to the last paper-clip. Even if the state agreed to sell it, the cost would be astronomical.

I especially like how this was announced over spring break when they thought nobody would notice.

liberal spending? Last I checked we’ve been involved in two war efforts for the past ten years now…how much is that costing us? (this is but one example) Money exists, it’s just mis-spent.

As to those who claim that public education is not really serving those who can’t afford to go elsewhere, in the case of PASSHE, I disagree. In fact, as the economy has worsened, my institution has been enrolling more and more transfer students from private colleges whose parents can no longer afford the higher tuition, room, and board. While it may be true that the very best students can ride on full scholarships, there are many, many good students who will need and deserve higher education. And PASSHE graduates tend to stay in Pennsylvania, giving back to our state.

“Layoffs” are now termed “retrenchment,” which means dissolving lower enrollment departments and perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, merging smaller and specialized departments across the state system.

Did anyone listen to the governor’s address in addition to looking at the budget cuts? Anti-intellectualism is alive and well in Pennsylvania. He berated public school teachers because their salaries are larger than that of “the average Pennsylvanian”–who, he reminds us, is paying those teachers’ salaries (i.e., we are their servants and should be making LESS), “and that’s just not fair.” I can only imagine what will be said about PASSHE faculty as our contract negotiations continue. Not only do “we all need to make sacrifices,” but educators should accept pay cuts and increased payments towards benefits, and the legislature “needs to rethink our state retirement plans.” My family and I did not go through all the years of sacrificing and debt it took me to earn a PhD so that I could earn the equivalent of a custodian’s salary and then get stiffed after all my years of service.

It’s a sad, sad day when people are so easily convinced that educators are the source of all their economic woes, and that offering more tax cuts to businesses will create more jobs in this sorry state. All Corbett had to offer was a growing film industry in Pittsburgh and Philly (huh?) and privatizing liquor sales. The rest of the burden has been loaded onto our shoulders.

I’m talking about social programs, and the tendency for those within institutions of higher education to support them. I’m not necessarily attacking Liberals. You are talking about Federal military spending, as those appropriations are largely supported by Conservatives. We’re not debating the same topic.

I neglected to mention that, along with the above views, I also feel that the same percentage of decrease in funding cuts should be matched equally in regulatory cuts. Just as new regulations are difficult to eventually scale back, support of liberal spending toward social programs crowds out publically-funded sectors, including HE. If HE leaders support market inefficiencies in pursuit of social justice or a reason to sleep at night, then there are fiscal consequences.

Rubbish. Public higher education educated returning veterans that the private schools wouldn’t admit, and nobody who works for one “sits there with your hand out.” We work our butts off to do a good job educating your neighbors kids so you can “sit there” and criticize? Go **** yourself.

Let’s face it: American society just doesn’t value public higher education any more. It thinks education is unrelated to low crime rates, high rates of small business starts, high rates of political participation (not just voting), higher tax bases, and more economic development, all of which attend public higher education. It has a hard lesson coming.

OMG… really? You have to be kidding!!!