Penn State officials hope for 47% increase in state general support funding

Penn State officials plan to aim high in their 202-24 state funding request.

On Friday, the Board of Trustees will vote on whether to approve a request for an additional $115 million in general support funding from the state.

If approved by legislators, that would bring the university’s general support appropriation up to $357 million — a roughly 47.5% increase compared to the $242 million that the university was allotted in 2022-23.

Penn State is one of four state-related universities that uses these funds to provide tuition discounts for its in-state students. Relative to its enrollment numbers, Penn State receives less state dollars per student than the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University.

The university’s general support funding has remained stagnant for three consecutive years. Gov. Tom Wolf unsuccessfully proposed a 5% increase in state funding to the state-related universities in the 2022-23 budget, but later quietly moved $40 million to these schools.

In recent months, Penn State has raised the alarm about its $191 million operating deficit, despite its billion-dollar endowment. Penn State has attributed money troubles to stagnant state funding, inflation rates, self-implemented tuition freezes, and enrollment and revenue pressures.

To combat the deficit, the university increased 2022-23 tuition by 5% for in-state University Park undergraduates and by 2% for their commonwealth campus counterparts. A university-wide hiring freeze is also in effect until at least summer 2023.

The Board of Trustees will vote on the request at 1 p.m. on Friday after the committee on finance, business and capital planning endorsed the request on Thursday.

Legislators must flesh out the 2023-24 state budget by the end of June 2023.