On Tuesday, Governor Ed Rendell met with a group of student leaders to discuss Penn State, its tuition, and the extent to which it benefits from the tuition relief act. We predicted that the meeting would be largely symbolic.

UPUA President Gavin Keirans talked to us about the event via email:

The Governor’s meeting went quite well, he was surprisingly candid in everything he said. He expressed a great deal of concern with how our administration run its operations, and use its funds. While early on it seemed dead set that he would not think of the state related schools in this tuition relief act proposal, we are now at a place where we have engaged him. I still believe we have a ways to go, but having the direct ear of the governor is always a positive.

That’s good to hear. Wondering what he means when he said the Governor was surprisingly candid?

Here are the quotes the Collegian had in its article on the event:

If there’s ever been a moral imperative of controlling tuition, it’s now. We’re just a few steps behind the Great Depression from the 1920s and 1930s.

I bet you my right arm that I could get in here and cut costs by 5 percent. When’s the last time anybody said no to the football program?

You know you have two law schools — do you think there’s any reason for a second law school? This is a problem.

The following day, the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments held a rally at the capitol to raise awareness about the budget crunch. Keirans et al were at this event too. Again, the issue is Penn State’s exclusion from the tuition relief act.

Here’s a video produced by the Patriot News of the Rally at the Rotunda.

We’ve heard their argument before, but Rendell has become a bit more specific in his. The ostensible reason for Penn State’s exclusion was expanded upon by a gubernatorial staffer:

“The state system schools and community colleges have done a better job keeping the tuition costs down, and the state has more input and control over the expenses and cost of the tuition there than they do at Penn State,” said Rendell spokesman Barry Ciccocioppo.

All in all, it doesn’t seem like much came out of the two days worth of events. I’d love to hear some dissenting arguments in the comments though…