Pennsylvania colleges want larger slice of state budget to grow, survive

Pennsylvania's budget-tightening mode has sent college officials scrambling to justify why state lawmakers should be prioritizing funding requests for higher education.

At stake are steeper-than-planned tuition hikes, fewer financial aid options and the scaling down of extension programs that enroll students in all 67 counties statewide.

Gridlock over resolving the state's broader budget challenges threatens higher education on two major fronts: lackluster support for a proposed $73.1 million increase to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which includes 14 campuses; and stuck-in-limbo pot of more than $650 million earmarked for so-called “non-preferred” colleges such as Penn State University and University of Pittsburgh.

The 14-university system's Board of Governors voted Thursday to ask the state for $562.2 million for 2018-19 — a 16-percent increase, PennLIVE's Jan Murphy reports.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/education/career/12809173-74/pennsylvania-colleges-want-larger-slice-of-state-budget-to-grow-survive