Some Pennsylvania colleges relieved that some cuts are cancelled

Deep, painful cuts in funding for Pennsylvania's state-related colleges - unthinkable six months ago - suddenly looked like better news after legislators restored millions of dollars in the final stages of budget negotiations.

Those four universities - Temple, Pennsylvania State, Pittsburgh, and Lincoln - would suffer reductions of 19 percent, an improvement from the 25 percent cut envisioned in May, legislative officials said Friday. However, the 14 state-owned schools, which include West Chester University, would fare worse, with cuts increasing to 18 percent from 15 percent.

Tuition increases are likely to follow.

"It's a mix of emotions," Penn State's president, Graham Spanier, said Friday. "I am very grateful that the legislature has moderated the level of the cut. . . . But we can't forget that it would still represent a cut of somewhere on the order of $62 million at the numbers I'm hearing today. That's still a lot of dollars for us to make up."

Gov. Corbett originally proposed cutting funding to higher education by 50 percent, the biggest one-time reduction in U.S. history, to help close a $4 billion budget deficit.

Under that plan, Penn State estimated it would lose $182 million, which some political leaders believed the school could absorb. Spanier, however, said it amounted to "near-total abandonment" of state support for higher education.

No one at the colleges was celebrating Friday, as they continue to face cuts, layoffs, and program reductions. And no one was ready to embrace the figures emanating from Harrisburg as definitive.

"Nothing is set in stone," said Annmarie Mountz, a spokeswoman for Penn State.

Penn State has laid off staff, and scrapped some major and minor courses of study. For instance, a major of economics had been offered in both business and liberal arts but has been eliminated in the former school, Mountz said. This week, the school laid off 15 people in its outreach and broadcast programs.

Meanwhile, the union that represents 6,000 faculty members and coaches at the 14 state schools predicted "devastating" harm.

"The previously proposed 15 percent cut was already a major blow," said Steve Hicks, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties. But 18 percent means "higher tuition rates and at the same time, programs will be cut, class sizes will increase, and faculty and staff will be laid off."

Efforts to contact officials at Lincoln were unsuccessful. At West Chester, administrators were awaiting passage of a state budget to determine changes in tuition and staffing.

"Until they give us the final number, it's hard to say what impact it will have," spokesperson Pam Sheridan said. In the meantime, she said, the school has developed contingency plans for different levels of budget losses.

More than 40 states have cut funding for higher education since the recession began, with double-digit reductions becoming common.

At Temple, president Ann Weaver Hart reimposed freezes on nonunion wages, administration hiring, and travel, while delaying plans to fill five top posts, as the budget drama has gone on in Harrisburg.

"Everyone was happy to see progress was being made, that we're getting close, but we're still looking at it as a proposal," spokesperson Eryn Jelesiewicz said Friday.

Spanier was asked by reporters if he thought the university had effectively made its case for higher funding.

"My impression is that there was a lot of sympathy, bipartisan sympathy, across the legislature for not imposing cuts that were draconian," he said. "We've said from the beginning that we recognize the state has a budget challenge, the greatest ever. We also have felt from the beginning that we should do our fair share, participate in those cuts. . . . I'm very grateful that members of the legislature tried to bring that number down as low as possible."