Penn State says it needs $25 million more in state aid to avoid tuition hike
STATE COLLEGE - Pennsylvania State University plans to ask for $25 million more in state funding next year with hope of avoiding a tuition hike.
STATE COLLEGE - Pennsylvania State University plans to ask for $25 million more in state funding next year with hope of avoiding a tuition hike.
At a presentation to university trustees Thursday, Penn State president Eric Barron acknowledged the request for $350 million - an 11 percent increase over its current allocation - might be a "stretch."
Barron said the university also will look to make $26 million in cuts for the 2017-18 year. That figure does not include savings the school anticipates from staff reductions as part of a voluntary retirement program announced this month.
The state funding discussion came on the same day that the university announced pay increases for four top executives - whose salaries range from $490,000 to $935,000.
The full board of trustees is expected to discuss and vote Friday on Barron's salary, as well as the funding request. The university is several months from making its formal pitch to the state but always begins planning early.
Board member William Oldsey questioned the rationale of asking the state for such a funding hike.
"Have we really built this budget in the most prudent way we could?" he asked. ". . . I think that 11 percent is a big wish. I don't think we should be building our budget on big wishes."
Barron said the effort was an honest attempt to make college more affordable.
"We need to be straightforward. Everyone wants a zero percent tuition increase," he said.
Without additional state funding, the university would have to cut $70 million to meet the goal, he said. Tuition varies by campus, class year, and major, but ranges this year between $17,000 and $22,000 at University Park for state residents. Penn State enrolls more than 97,000 on all its campus.
The executives who got raises included athletic director Sandy Barbour, whose salary will jump to $731,808 from $720,996; executive vice president and provost Nicholas Jones, to $530,592 from $511,364; and senior vice president for finance and business David Gray, to $490,440 from $470,568. Also getting a raise, to $935,004, will be A. Craig Hillemeier, CEO of Penn State Hershey Medical Center and medical school dean. His salary last year was $850,008.
Last year, the board gave Barron a lump-sum merit payment of about $24,000, but did not change his $800,000 base salary.
In 2014-15, Barron was 11th of 258 public university presidents in the nation in total compensation, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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