BCT Editorial – 7/15/07

This page was last updated on August 6, 2007.

Stiffed; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 15, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“When it comes to funding, Penn State is virtually a state university in name only.

[RWC] Perhaps I’m nitpicking, but PSU is not a “state university” and never has been. It is a state-related university, along with Lincoln, Pitt, and Temple. All of these except PSU originated as private colleges. Unlike PA state universities, state-related schools operate independently of the state. That is, they are not owned or controlled by the state; they simply receive public funding at the discretion of the commonwealth.

CUP, IUP, et cetera are state universities.

“The state budget for next year includes a 2 percent increase in state funding for the school, about $331 million to $332 million.

“University officials started out asking for 6.8 percent but later dropped their request to 3 percent. Gov. Ed Rendell had proposed a 1.6 percent increase.”

[RWC] Of course, the editorial failed to compare the 6.8% requested increase with inflation. For 2006, the consumer price index (CPI) was 3.24% and hasn’t been above 2.78% so far in 2007. In other words, PSU started off asking for an increase of more than twice the inflation rate, while their fallback position was about equal to inflation.

“The university’s budget is more than $3 billion, which means it only receives about 10 percent of its funding from the commonwealth.

“The state’s paltry contribution goes a long way toward explaining why Penn State has one of the highest tuition rates of state-related universities in the country.

“For all intents and purposes, Penn State is a private university. Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t end up one some day, especially if the state keeps stiffing it at budget time.”

[RWC] Why shouldn’t all colleges be private?