It has recently come to my attention that Pitt is having major problems getting funding from the state legislature. I just read a news article from only last week in which the Chancellor referred to possible tuition increases if the budget were not approved.
Does anyone have any insight on this? Are people at Pitt really worried about this? We didn’t hear about it at all at our recent admitted students day event (of course). Are there any estimates of how large a percentage increase this could be in tuition? In trying to compare schools, it would be really helpful if we had some good number for Pitt on tuition for next year.
No one really knows anything for sure. All the state-related universities in Pennsylvania (Pitt, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln) are all in the same boat. They’re all stuck being played as pawns in a game of political chicken.
Luckily, Pitt has substantial enough strategic reserves to have enabled it to cover this $150 million hole in its FY15 budget, so it has been able to cover the in-state tuition subsidies and front the Pennsylvania higher education assistance loans of its students without taking on additional debt service. This isn’t the first time this has happened, so Pitt has prepared for these sorts of funding gaps, but this just happens to be the longest amount of time that these schools have gone without receiving their annual appropriations.
No one can be sure, but I’d expect tuition to go up at a typical rate for these schools (<5%) as they will try hard to keep an excessive burden of this ridiculous funding fiasco from being shouldered by their students. But reserves only stretch so far and there is only so much they can do.
I posted about this in the “merit scholarship” post a few posts down. It was headline news on the campus newspaper I so casually picked up and then went pale as I read it. Salaries are frozen, there is a hiring freeze. I feel badly for all involved…staff,students and parents. Doesn’t sound like they will know anything for a few months.
This is very concerning for us. My D loves Pitt but we won’t let her commit unless there is more information. Either the state has to fund the school or the school has to address how they are going to handle this. If they are going to start cutting programs, I want to know before my D commits to go there. I also want to know if there is going to be a huge tuition increase. If you do the simple math $150 million/20,000 students = $7500 per student shortfall. We have options right now but once May 1 passes she will be locked in. I can’t see locking into Pitt with this uncertainty. I never considered the possibility of this this when we were looking for schools for her to apply to. It really is too bad.
I highly doubt Pitt will cut any academic programs due to this. It would take several years of this mess, and even then, I doubt you’d see much change in offerings. Now tuition, that very well could be affected depending on how this ends. Unfortunately, there is just no way to know.
Keep in mind that there are actually 34,826 students at Pitt which includes its graduate programs and four regional campuses which are all supported by that funding, so it is more like $4,200 per student. They are not going to raise tuition that much in one year…or even two… that I can practically guarantee you.
Here’s the other thing about that $147 million…it doesn’t actually cover the entire cumulative in-state tuition discount that Pitt provides each year. Pitt actually has made the statement that it only covers about half of it (and that includes larger discounts at its regional campuses) so it probably isn’t as much of a per student tuition revenue shortfall as you are guessing. And remember that Pitt is semi-public, and is actually operational private…it isn’t as tied to the hip to the state as much as traditional public schools. Pitt’s got a very strong bond rating and relatively low debt yield and a healthy endowment. It is just my guess, but I don’t think you’re going to see more than 5% tuition raises even in the worst circumstances.
You can look up historical tuition information for Pitt here. It goes back to 1997/98.
I just looked at the last 10 years’ tuition for instate undergraduates in School of Arts and Sciences.
From 2005/06 until 2015/16 tuition has increased a total of $6,556, an average of $655 per year.
Highest increase was from 2010/11 to 2011/12, an increase of about 8.5 %. Lowest increase was from 2014/15 to 2015/16, about 2.5%.
Pitt and the other state related universities have received different levels of state support throughout the years, the last time a significant cut in funding occurred was in 2012 I think.
me29034 hit the nail on the head. Once May 1 comes around, students are pretty much locked into their choice, so it is pretty disappointing that they didn’t address it at all in the admitted student days. How about some upfront honesty for once and not depending on students to research PA state government politics on their own? In addition to huge tuition increases, I also worry about the elimination of a student’s merit scholarship after attending because of budget cuts. Fortunately, I have a year before my high school junior has to decide and I hope that this has been resolved by then. Good luck to those who have less than 6 weeks to decide.
I’m not really worried about cuts to academic programs, but my D is very interested in the arts and I do worry that those programs could be chopped. There’s a lot of little extras at Pitt that make it very attractive and if these start being cut, it may not affect the academics, but it will affect the student experience. Also, if there are hiring freezes, no raises and benefit reductions, it could result in staff unhappiness and people leaving. This also affects the student experience.
FWIW, we live out of state and I have been spending way too much time lately reading up on PA politics. If we lived in state perhaps we could call the governors office and let them know our opinion but we have no power in this situation.
@me29034 - By the way, those of us who live in the state also have no power in this matter. Once again, as has happened rather frequently, PA universities are at the mercy of a pissing match between the governor’s office and the legislature.
The good news is that both the Legislature and Governor have clearly stated that they support funding, and increased funding, for Pitt and Penn State and the other states schools, but unfortunately funding for this year is being used as a political pawn to get other concessions in the state budget. It may get settled this week, or take longer, but in the end I think it will result in a long-term approach and commitment from the State for funding for these schools that will make them stronger in the long-term. My D loves Pitt and is excited to enroll for this Fall.
My ds chose Pitt in 2011 after I had done regression analysis on all his choices (I know, a bit excessively analytical right?) and felt most confident in Pitt to not raise tuition sharply year over year - I was concerned as you all are about the true cost of a Pitt degree - it’s not one year after all! My dd followed in 2013. My other dd followed in 2015. Year over year, modest increases (we are OOS btw) paled in comparison to the up to double digit increases at my ds’/dd’s other options. Every year the PA budget seems to drags on and there are campaigns to hold funding steady or have modest increases…but every year since 2011 we have not been hit with more than 3-5%. As pointed out both sides want funding restored or increased - I am not in any way worried about this year. AND dd is planning to continue on to apply to Pitt for her PhD next fall - so they have me as a happy customer for more years to come. It is getting press on purpose so that alums and parents will pressure the legislature to pass something - it’s a tactic not a panic.
Absolutely no way Pitt Arts and other such programs are touched by this. None of those programs are impacted by state funding. Nor will anyone lose merit scholarships because of any state funding issue.
Also, it was just announced today that the Governor is letting the budget become law without his signature so the impasse is over. He announced that he will support the funding bills for the state-related universities (i.e. Pitt). So the issue is now coming to a close and should be a non-factor.