General Budget Information
The State House and Senate finally passed a budget bill on July 4 after reaching an overall agreement before the June 30 deadline. The total state general fund budget is $28.3 billion for fiscal year 2008-09, an increase of $1.082 billion from the revised available amount for FY 2007-08 or an increase of 3.98%. Higher education was increased by $38.2 million to $2.078 billion. The Legislature added $12 million to the Governor’s budget proposal, yet roughly half of the line items in the higher education budget were cut.
PHEAA Funding
PHEAA grants received an increase from the prior fiscal year of $21.2 million (5.5%), which brings the total appropriation to $407.4 million. Some of these new dollars come from lapsed appropriations for other PHEAA programs that are being transferred to the Student Grant Program. While students may still expect a reduction in their PHEAA Grant next year due to the loss of PHEAA’s supplemental funding ($70 million in 2007-08), this large increase in student aid in a difficult budget year with numerous cuts in other higher education programs is most welcome. We now have a bigger base in the Student Grant Program to work with in future years.
Institutional Assistance Grants (IAGS) received no increase in either the Governor’s budget or the final budget. Again, given the other cuts in higher education and throughout the budget, level funding of $42.0 million is a good budget position.
General Higher Education Funding
The Governor’s budget proposal included a shift for the private, state-aided medical schools to receive some of their funds from the Department of Welfare in order to capture federal funds. This results in a 16% loss of state dollars, though the total funds for the institutions should increase slightly after federal dollars are included. This same procedure occurred with the state-related medical schools last year. The Legislature, however, reduced funding for the private, state-aided institutions by just under 1%. The “Nursing Shortage Initiative” included in last year’s budget continued to be funded at $2.4 million with a slight decrease of 1.3%.
The State System of Higher Education received a 3.0% increase overall ($519.3 million). Community Colleges received an increase of 3% or $6.9 million in 2008-09 and no increase for capital needs. The state-related institutions (Penn State, Pitt, and Temple) saw an increase of around 1.5% in their Educational and General line items with no additional line item increases for special programs such as agricultural research. Lincoln University saw an increase of 5% or $707,000. Please see attached chart for complete appropriation levels.
Capital Budget Funding
Although the budget deal did not include the Legacy Program component that AICUP has been working on, the Legacy initiative’s visibility over the last nine months placed additional pressure on the Legislature to raise the debt ceiling for the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) by an additional $300 million to $800 million. More importantly, it is our understanding that a total of at least $100 million of RACP funding will be available solely for independent higher education capital projects. Eligible projects must be included in a project itemization bill. This would be the first time state leaders have agreed to set aside a dedicated pool of capital funds for its private colleges and universities—a major AICUP goal over the last few years. AICUP is currently working with Delta Development Group (our consultant on this project) to assemble promptly a training session for interested AICUP members on how to best prepare your capital project for quick release of the RACP funds. We want to be sure that we can demonstrate to the Governor and the Legislature that there are more than $100 million in ready-to-go, quality projects at private colleges and universities around the state.
|
APPROPRIATIONS
|
2007-08
|
2008-09
|
% Compare
|
Incr/Decr
|
% Compare to
|
|
|
(000)
|
(000)
|
to Gov.
|
from 2007-08
|
2007-08
|
|
PHEAA Grants
|
386,198
|
407,413
|
2.49%
|
21,215
|
5.49%
|
|
PHEAA Matching Grants
|
14,122
|
13,938
|
-1.30%
|
-184
|
-1.30%
|
|
SciTech
|
4,350
|
4,293
|
-1.31%
|
-57
|
-1.31%
|
|
IAGS
|
42,013
|
42,013
|
0.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
|
Nursing Shortage Initiative
|
2,450
|
2,418
|
-1.31%
|
-32
|
-1.31%
|
|
Higher Ed. Equal Oppt. Grant
|
9,320
|
9,199
|
-1.30%
|
-121
|
-1.30%
|
|
Higher Ed. Engineering Equip.
|
150
|
74
|
49.33%
|
-76
|
-50.67%
|
|
Higher Education Assistance
|
19,661
|
20,569
|
2.81%
|
908
|
4.62%
|
|
State Aided
|
89,422
|
75,122
|
-0.52%
|
-14,300
|
-15.99%
|
|
Community Colleges
|
229,359
|
236,240
|
0.00%
|
6,881
|
3.00%
|
|
Trans. To Community College Cap
|
44,506
|
44,506
|
0.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
|
Reg. Community College Services
|
750
|
750
|
100.00%
|
0
|
0.00%
|
|
Technical Colleges
|
2,000
|
1,000
|
-70.00%
|
-1,000
|
-50.00%
|
|
State System
|
504,240
|
519,236
|
0.09%
|
14,996
|
2.97%
|
|
Penn State
|
334,230
|
338,375
|
0.46%
|
4,145
|
1.24%
|
|
Pitt
|
168,169
|
170,734
|
0.24%
|
2,565
|
1.53%
|
|
Temple
|
172,917
|
175,504
|
0.00%
|
2,587
|
1.50%
|
|
Lincoln
|
13,786
|
14,493
|
3.63%
|
707
|