<p>Governor Corbett this morning released his budget, which proposes a 50% cut in state funding to Penn State, U. Pitt and other public universities. </p>
<p>At the same time, he is proposing to allow accelerated tax deductions for corporations that will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars this year.</p>
<p>More here–
[State</a> College, PA - Spanier to Answer ‘Proposed Catastrophic Cuts’ in Penn State Funding](<a href=“http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/spanier-to-answer-proposed-catastrophic-cuts-in-penn-state-funding-679377/]State”>http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/spanier-to-answer-proposed-catastrophic-cuts-in-penn-state-funding-679377/)</p>
<p>Wait, this is only a 4% redcution int Penn State’s operating budget:</p>
<p>“If approved by the state House and Senate, the reduction would cut from about eight percent to about four percent the amount of Penn State’s annual budget that comes from state support.”</p>
<p>I certainly hope that the governor gets the accelerated tax deductions for corporations - we desperately need to stop driving corporations and their jobs out of Pennsylvania, as the state has one of the highest corporate tax burdens in the country. The state has been slowly dying for decades.</p>
<p>“Only 4%” is more than $180M, not exactly small beer</p>
<p>You should also consider the positive economic impact PSU has in the state–
[The</a> Pennsylvania State University Economic Impact Statement](<a href=“http://econimpact.psu.edu/]The”>http://econimpact.psu.edu/)</p>
<p>I hardly think a nearly quarter of a billion dollar tax break for businesses is needed while education is being slashed across the board.</p>
<p>The Tax Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group, listed Pennsylvania at No. 26 among the 50 states in its annual rankings of business tax climates released in October, 2010.</p>
<p>Neighboring states New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Ohio are in the 10 worst for business taxes.</p>
<p>Additionally PA is the only state which does not have an extraction tax for natural gas. With the increased drilling in the Marcellus shale reserve, stopping that give-away could provide $300M to help balance the budget and would not deter the gas companies.</p>
<p>Cutting down business taxes is always good. More profit incentive and less government control, which is what this country, not only PA, needs right now.</p>
<p>I disagree with that, but this is not the place for a political debate.</p>
<p>Less government control. How did that whole banking deregulation thing work out?</p>
<p>Some issues have a fine line between too much government control and letting things get out of hand. Banking deregulation could be considered one. I didn’t mean to spark a forum flame war. Calm down.</p>
<p>But Penn State will still build its new $80 million dollar ice arena and elevate Hockey to varsity status. They have to keep their priorities straight.</p>
<p>I know the money came from a private donor but I wonder how hard they tried to persuade him to make the donation for scholarships instead.</p>
<p>The percentage of Penn State’s funding from the state is skewed. Most of the state money, by far, goes to keep in state undergrad tuition reasonable. That point was made today by the Pres. of the U. of Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>Out of state students pay full price, and in-state law students and med students pay full price. Many other activities (such as food service, research programs, sports, conference centers/hotels, housing) are meant to be self-supporting.</p>
<p>When you consider impacts of a budget cut, you need to consider the percentage of the main academic non-research budget, not the total budget of all affiliated services.</p>
<p>Therefore, a 4% cut in the total budget may mean a 20% cut in the dollars available to subsidize in-state undergrads. Because of fixed costs, it might also result in a 20% increase in undergrad average class sizes or a 20% reduction in the number of classes offered. </p>
<p>There would likely be a hiring freeze and some layoffs. With a hiring freeze, there would almost have to be reductions in course offerings. There would also likely be a reduction in tenured positions, which hurts faculty recruitment. That means more starving part-time nomadic adjunct instructors without benefits, who have to use their suitcase as their office.</p>
<p>Even before these budget cuts, some PA. universities such as Kutztown had hiring freezes and were eliminating multiple majors.</p>
<p>Elections have consequences. When people stay home on election day, this is the result.</p>
<p>The PSU “Core Council” has already been identifying programs that can be consolidated or cut. Engineering’s Science, Technology and Society program and Arts and Architecture’s Integrated Arts major are both slated to be cut. The College of Agriculture is looking at whittling its departments from twelve to six. This was begun in an effort to permanently shave ten million dollars off he budget. If those kind of cuts are required to save $10M, what would be cut to save $180M? The results would be devastating.</p>
<p>@ TomSrOfBoston, PSU is not going to do anything to alienate the Pegulas. Forbes lists him as the 110th richest individual in the US. (worth $3 Billion). They are hoping there will be more gifts to come.</p>
<p>Spending is not the answer to fix a recession. Cutting is.</p>
<p>But I do agree that cutting it that much might be bad. Maybe PA should focus on cutting taxes more, rather than so much higher education funding. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>If they cut taxes, spending must be cut too as a balanced budget is the law. Pa spends much less money on higher ed than other states. Where is the extra money going?</p>
<p>How much money is spent on Seniors in PA?</p>
<p>Seniors vote. Young people don’t - especially in an off-year election for Governor and State Representatives. Politicians don’t care about anyone who doesn’t vote.</p>
<p>In Pennsylvania, the state lottery funds programs for senior citizens (prescription drugs, transportation, real estate tax rebates, etc). It should be noted that Pennsylvania is a large percentage of senior citizens and one of the oldest average and median ages</p>
<p>PSU President Spanier is threatening to close some of the “commonwealth” (aka branch) campuses. I live near one of those campus and have taken classes there over the years.
Since it is one of the smallest campuses, I have to wonder if that campus might close.</p>
<p>Thanks Khipper. Clearly PA values it’s voting seniors very highly. Did you know that some states use the proceeds from their lotteries to aid their college students?</p>