Penn State will seek a $120.1 million increase in its annual state appropriation for 2024-25, following approval of the request by the Board of Trustees on Friday.
The ask would bring the university’s state funding to $483.4 million, a 33% increase over the $363.3 million it is expected to receive for 2023-24. The request, according to the university, would put Penn State per in-state student funding, which ranks last in the commonwealth, on an even level with Pennsylvania’s other public universities, according to the university.
President Neeli Bendapudi noted Penn State’s role as a driver of education, workforce training, economic growth and research in the commonwealth.
“We have worked very hard as an institution, particularly over the last decade, to minimize tuition increases while also revamping our budget and reducing costs, even in the face of historic inflation and stagnant appropriations,” President Neeli Bendapudi said in a statement. “Increased support for Penn State is vital to our students, the communities we impact all across Pennsylvania, and the state’s long-term economic future.”
Funding for this year for Penn State and other universities is still held up in the General Assembly, where lawmakers are still negotiating legislation to enable spending of hundreds of millions of dollars for education from the current year’s budget. University officials said they are “optimistic” that funding will be released in the coming weeks, and that they were proceeding with their annual funding request as usual on the instruction of state government departments.
Penn State has long been last in per-student funding among Pennsylvania four state-related universities and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education schools (PASSHE). It’s also among the lowest in state funding for public universities nationwide.
The request for 2024-25 includes $368.1 million — a 42% increase of $108.8 million — for the university’s general support appropriation, which is used to provide the in-state tuition discount for Penn State’s approximately 42,000 Pennsylvania resident students.
In 2022-23, Penn State’s funding per in-state student was $5,757. Fellow state-related universities Pitt and Temple received $9,436 and $9,233, respectively, according to the university, while the PASSHE schools received $8,754. The 2024-25 request would put Penn State on par with PASSHE’s per in-state student funding.
As part of its request, Penn State is also asking the governor and legislature to work with the state’s public universities to develop “simple and transparent performance-based funding metrics,” such as educating in-state students; supporting low-income, first-generation and traditionally underserved students; and promoting high-need career fields.
“The fact that students attending Pennsylvania’s flagship, land-grant university are funded at a level that is between $3,000 and $3,700 less per student than the state’s other public universities is an imbalance we feel must be addressed,” Zack Moore, vice president for government and community relations, said.. “Over the past 50 years, as Penn State’s enrollment has increased, there hasn’t been a corresponding increase in state funding to keep pace. All Pennsylvanians benefit from the state’s investment in Penn State, and additional support is vital to our efforts to provide affordable, high-quality degree programs that are attractive to top students and meet the needs of the state’s employers.”
Penn State would use the requested increase to boost need-based student aid, invest in high-demand career programs that meet Pennsylvania’s needs, perform deferred maintenance on education facilities and provide “modest” salary increases for faculty and staff.
In addition to the general support appropriation, Penn State is seeking:
• $61.7 million — a 7% increase of $4 million — for agricultural extension and research programs, which do not use tuition money.
• $33.1 million — a 15.5% increase of $4.4 million — for the Pennsylvania College of Technology, which is a special-mission affiliate of the university focused on applied technology education for fields ranging from nursing to welding to electrical to cybersecurity.
• $16.1 million — a 5% increase of $765,000 — for Penn State Health and the College of Medicine. The funding is used to provide medical assistance for low-income residents and for medical student training programs.
• $2.35 million — matching support from the past two years — for the Invent Penn State entrepreneurship and economic development initiative.
• $2 million for a new Emerging and Advanced Technology Initiative within the College of Agricultural Sciences.
The appropriation request will be submitted in October.
