Gov. Struggles to answer questions from U. Pitt students about his 50% budget cuts

Colleges & Universities University of Pittsburgh
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<p>[Corbett</a> “struggled” with University of Pittsburgh students’ questions; “unresponsive” to many - Democratic Underground](<a href=“http://www.democraticunderground.com/1074942]Corbett”>http://www.democraticunderground.com/1074942)</p>

<p>[Gov</a>. Corbett takes questions from Pitt students | The Pitt News](<a href=“http://pittnews.com/newsstory/gov-corbett-takes-questions-from-pitt-students/]Gov”>http://pittnews.com/newsstory/gov-corbett-takes-questions-from-pitt-students/)</p>

<p>[Pancakes</a> and Politics: Governor Tom Corbett | The Pitt News](<a href=“http://pittnews.com/photoshoot/pancakes-and-politics-governor-tom-corbett/]Pancakes”>http://pittnews.com/photoshoot/pancakes-and-politics-governor-tom-corbett/)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.wtae.com/video/30693601/detail.html[/url]”>http://www.wtae.com/video/30693601/detail.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Yesterday, Corbett spoke at an invitation-only event at the University of Pittsburgh. He tried to address and avoid a number of questions from Pitt students concerning his proposed 50% cut of state funding to Pitt and Penn State (25% this year and 25% next budget year).</p>

<p>Excerpts:</p>

<p>"Robert Beecher, chairperson of SGB’s Governmental Relations Committee, said he thought Corbett seemed composed while delivering his prepared portion of the presentation, but struggled with the question and answer session.</p>

<p>“His main weakness was his inability to respond to student questions,” Beecher said. “He was unresponsive to many of the questions.”</p>

<p>Pitt’s Dean of Students Kathy Humphrey said she was impressed with the students’ questions.</p>

<h2>“In general, I was pleased with the students,” Humphrey said. “They brought real facts for the governor to consider. I thought the questions were well thought out. I hope this will encourage the governor to reconsider his proposal.” "</h2>

<p><a href=“http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_786847.html[/url]”>http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_786847.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>At the session, Corbett said he would “understand” if Pitt becomes a private university</p>

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<p>I wish the article would be more specific as to what the student questions were. </p>

<p>Also, I’ve noticed that higher education advocates in PA do a good job of highlighting the decreasing funding levels over the last few decades, BUT I wish they would also use comparisons with other states as an argument. After all, PA is in competition with other states with educated workers and jobs and education is THE most important thing.</p>

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<p>The one number I calculated was that Gov. Christie is proposing to provide 5 times as much state funding per full-time equivalent Rutgers student as Corbett proposes to Penn State.</p>

<p>North Carolina is one of the best states for funding of public universities. Guess which state is often leading in growth of good jobs?</p>

<p>Corbett is going around saying that state funding is a small part of the budget of Penn State and Pitt. He is including everything that is spent by the universities and their associated organizations - residence halls, sports, food services, Penn State’s golf courses, conference centers, Penn State’s airport, etc. That is irrelevant - those other non-academic activities are self-supporting through fees, etc. </p>

<p>The state doesn’t subsidize those activities - the state funding only subsidizes the academic budget for in-state students. The state cuts are a substantial percentage of those costs.</p>

<hr>

<p>Here’s some info on Penn State - I believe Pitt’s numbers are similar:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.budget.psu.edu/openbudget/primer_genfunds.aspx[/url]”>http://www.budget.psu.edu/openbudget/primer_genfunds.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Error Page”>Error Page;

<p>State funds make up 14% of Penn State’s general academic budget. It is actually higher if you assume that the 1/3 of State College and Pitt main campus students who are out of state are paying full price and are not subsidized.</p>

<p>State funds made up 50% of Penn State’s general academic budget in 1987 and 30% in 2007.</p>

<p>The state appropriation is critical to maintain a discount for in-state vs. out of state students. If the state appropriation disappears (which Corbett would like to do eventually), the in-state tuition rate would go up to the out of state rate.</p>

<p>Penn State and Pitt have the distinction of having the two highest in-state tuition rates in the US. On the average, PA. is 40th among the 50 states in average state spending per public university student. If these cuts continue, we wil be battling Mississippi for 50th place.</p>

<hr>

<p><a href=“http://pennbpc.org/sites/pennbpc.org…-2012-PBPC.pdf%5B/url%5D”>http://pennbpc.org/sites/pennbpc.org…-2012-PBPC.pdf</a> </p>

<p>The link is to a really informative set of slides about Corbett’s proposed budget and trends, from a budget summit held this week by the PA. Budget and Policy Center.</p>

<p>Some highlights: </p>

<ul>
<li><p>If Corbett’s budget is approved, PA. will be spending twice as much on prisons as on higher education.</p></li>
<li><p>Most sources of tax revenue to PA. have recovered to pre-recession levels - except real estate transfer taxes (because of the weak housing and construction market) and corporate taxes. This reduction in corporate taxes occurred because:</p></li>
</ul>

<ol>
<li>one corporate tax rate has been reduced each year (including this new budget year, which will cost ANOTHER $250 MILLION),

<ol>
<li>corporate loopholes have not been closed, including the loophole that lets PA companies funnel profits through Delaware, and</li>
<li>Corbett, on his own, changed business depreciation rules in 2011 that cost PA. $200 million. Therefore, the reduction in state revenues has really been a “Corbett-inflicted wound.”</li>
</ol></li>
</ol>

<p>If Corbett’s budget is approved, funding of public universities will have been cut by one-third in 4 years. I wonder why tuition increases?</p>

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<p>[An</a> open letter to PA. College Students from a fellow student - “Don’t wait or it will be too late” - Democratic Underground](<a href=“http://www.democraticunderground.com/10741011]An”>http://www.democraticunderground.com/10741011)</p>