PSU Trustees Thinking Private..What About Pitt?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
1

<p>Is it feasible for Pitt or Penn State to follow the Cornell model?</p>

<p>Penn</a> State open to going private - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</p>

2

<p>Sort of what the California universities should consider as their funding gets increasingly parlous and the State represents less and less of their aggregate budget. It is contradictory to demand that the UCs educate Californians, but then provide little in the way of funding to do it. Hmmmm. Kind of like all those mandates our own federal government insists on proposing with no resources to support them.</p>

3

<p>If Pitt were to follow the Cornell model, which schools would get state money and which would not? Perhaps Pitt’s ‘prestige’ schools that get substantial Federal grant funding could go private with the others linked back to the state via contract like Cornell does. Done smartly, it could very well work to keep a number (but alas fewer) state residents educated at discounted rates while increasing in prestige (many students like to go to more selective schools than Pitt because they are inherently more selective) and attracting top talent.</p>

4

<p>In any case, the main effect if the State slashes Pitt’s funding is that in-state students will pay much more for tuition. That is the main use of the state funding right now - to subsidize the costs of in-state students. </p>

<p>If a university would go half-public and half-private, the programs that have the highest demand and the most research dollars would go private. There are more prospective students who are more willing to pay high tuition for Pitt’s engineering program than for a sociology major.</p>

5

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<p>Except that we students already have a differential tuition based on major. Nursing students pay the most, then Engineers, then A&S. It wouldn’t be fair to turn around and make them pay EVEN more.</p>

<p>Aside from that, the Pitt News had an article about this very situation today: [Pitt</a> officials say University could drop state-related status | The Pitt News](<a href=“http://pittnews.com/newsstory/pitt-officials-say-university-could-drop-state-related-status/]Pitt”>Pitt officials say University could drop state-related status - The Pitt News)</p>

6

<p>The Cornell model is an interesting one. I have close friends (we are NY State residents) with two sons there, one in an Endowed College (private) one in a Land Grant College (NY State partially funded). It’s a an Ivy League, highly competitive school and therefore crazy expensive…either way. Check out this link with their current tuition rates. It’s an incredible school, in a beautiful town. You get all of the benefits regardless of which college you are in, but it’s an incredibly high price compared to Pitt! </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/cost-attend[/url]”>http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/cost-attend&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;