As planned, Governor Ed Rendell announced his budget proposals today for the 2010-2011 fiscal year in the Commonwealth and proposed $333.9 million in appropriations for Penn State.


This is the first of a million steps in the appropriations process for Penn State that must be taken before the university receives its funding. Over the next few months, university officials must meet with state legislators in order to come up with a final spending plan by weighing the university’s costs and needs.


President Graham Spanier plans to go before the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 23 and the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 3.


After last year’s near-explosive financial dilemma, lets hope that everything gets worked out in an ordered and timely fashion, like a good fire drill.

It seems like it was just yesterday Penn State’s Board of Trustees was announcing plans for tuition hikes. It was an exciting time. Would the state legislature pass the budget? Would we see a 4.5% or 9.8% increase? Well, the dance has begun again.
Friday, the Board announced it is expecting a 4.9% tuition increase for in-state students, as well as a 3.5% increase for those out-of-state in its 2010-2011 state funding request.
You may wonder why Penn State keeps increasing tuition so much, but considering trends, we shouldn’t be upset about this proposal.
To the right is a plot of tuition increases …

Well, with finals week here, it is a relief to know that the Penn State appropriations saga is almost over. Yesterday, a major milestone was reached when the House successfully passed the table games bill on second consideration, and then Penn State’s appropriation minutes later by a vote of 184-6.
Now, the table games bill will wait to be voted on for third and final consideration in the House today, before being sent to the Senate, and then to Governor Rendell to be signed. Rendell has said numerous times that he would not sign the appropriations bill before the table games …

Last night, Penn State came very close to actually getting money from the State Legislature, held up since October.
Unfortunately, the House adjourned at 11 pm before the body could vote on the proposed legislation. Much of the time spent in debate was tied up in wrangling and parliamentary procedure tricks. Those interested in a blow by blow account of the evening would do well to peruse the Capitol_Ideas Twitter page.
Frustration and anger were the dominant themes for those that watched the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN)’s coverage of the House debate last night. Interestingly enough, it was the Republicans of the …

According to an article posted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, tuition bills for this spring semester have been mailed out and do NOT include the hikes that were anticipated due to the lack of funding from the state legislature.
However, it does not look like were out of the woods yet. The article also stated that according the Penn State’s spokeswoman Lisa Powers, there could still be a hike in next semester’s tuition if the university doesn’t receive its funding from the state. And that would suck for the university to have to resend out tuition bills asking for extra money.
So please …

As it looks right now, students of Penn State are facing an ADDITIONAL tuition increase next semester. And for this, we can thank the Pennsylvania legislature, which has yet to pass legislation on casino table games that would generate revenue to cover appropriations, such as the funds that Penn State still has not received. Therefore, if Penn State doesn’t get these funds soon, perhaps even by the end of this week, the University will be forced to raise tuition as soon as this coming spring.
With tuition already as high as it is, another increase would put an unwarranted financial strain …

On Tuesday, Penn State and three other public universities in the state announced that the delay in approval of table-games legislature could increase tuition rates as early as January. The state left nearly $700 million out of the budget signed by Governor Rendell in October, and made it contingent on the table-games bill being passed.
In a response to a letter of complaint from the colleges, House Speaker Keith McCall said, “This bill needs to be done right the first time, and, like a college education, cannot be rushed without potentially causing more harm than good to the future.” He stated …

Well sock us sideways, if the P.A. State Legislature didn’t finally pass a budget that was over 100 days overdue – and Penn State doesn’t get to see a dime yet! We’ve been waiting longer for this budget to pass than Forrest Gump did for that sleaze Jenny to wander back home and we’re no closer to seeing any green than a meerkat in the Mohave.
It’s a shame the people of Pennsylvania can’t take the mob’s approach on money that’s overdue to them.
More disheartening is the fact that Penn State and other Pennsylvania state-related schools can’t receive their appropriation until a pending bill is passed that would allow table games, such as blackjack …

Graham Spanier is calling in favors… or trying to, at least.
He sent a letter (PDF) to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan about Governor Rendell’s recent exclusion of Penn State and other state-related universities from federal stimulus money.
By arbitrarily re-defining The Pennsylvania State University as non-public, simply because we are not “under the absolute control of the Commonwealth,” the Governor is setting a dangerous precedent that the Department of Education should address. If the Department approves this application as it is written, it gives governors in every other state the ability to pick and choose which public institutions they may support …

Gary Schultz retired this week after having served for 14 years as the university’s senior vice president for finance and business. Al Horvath, the current vice president for finance and business, will be taking his position effective today.
In his position, Schultz was responsible for managing the 5,000 person workforce associated with “business operations, finance, and technology.” Oddly enough, he was also the designated executive for the Office of the Physical Plant and University Police.
Schultz will also be leaving a profound legacy from one of his other duties, serving as the chairman of the Penn State Investment Council, the organization tasked …

Governor’s Reduction
Governor Ed Rendell released the latest of his increasingly drastic budget reductions for the 2009 fiscal year. The governor has now reduced the budget proposal by $2 billion dollars.
Overall, 229 line items would be impacted by the latest round of spending reductions. Compared to the current fiscal year, the Governor has now cut three out of every four line items, totally eliminating 163 of them and reducing another 328.
One of the details in the most recent revision, which was released on Thursday, is that the public-related institutions will not be receiving federal stimulus money, resulting in a loss of …

Another rally was held by UPUA this afternoon at Old Main to raise awareness about Penn State’s budget crisis. However, despite the offer of free pretzels, only a handful of students attended, and most of those who attended were either in UPUA or with a media organization.
Why was the attendance so sparse?

OK, I’ll give you that the speakers weren’t very exciting and today’s event wasn’t publicized as well as a similar rally that was held in February. Even the Collegian article about the event only ran this morning.
But the main reason attendance was so low is that the student body …

Governor Rendell’s proposed 2009 budget is out and Penn State appears to be getting its appropriation cut by almost $21 million.The Penn State Live article posted today says:
The $318 million proposed direct Penn State appropriation is a $20.3 million cut from the original 2008-09 appropriation of $338.4 million.  In addition, medical assistance funds provided to the Hershey Medical Center is anticipated to be reduced by approximately $900,000. This overall proposed Penn State funding level is less than the original University appropriation in 2001.
Less than in 2001? Oy.
But is this really as big a deal as PSL is making it out …