The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed House Bill 612 Tuesday, which contains funding for state-related universities, including Temple.
The bill would grant this year’s state funding and increase it from $158.2 million to $169.2 million, under the condition that the universities commit to a tuition freeze in the 2024-25 academic year.
The bill’s approval comes after months of House Republicans blocking its passage and calling for the tuition freeze.
“At a time when Temple University is facing near-unprecedented rising costs and decreasing enrollment, honoring such a freeze would prove to be incredibly challenging,” the university wrote in a statement to The Temple News. “We have historically worked to keep tuition as low as possible, and it is our promise that we would continue to do that. From a budget planning perspective, however, agreeing to freeze tuition nearly one year in advance would not be responsible.”
A majority of Temple’s budget comes from tuition, compared to state funding which makes up 12 percent of the budget. Tuition increased by 4.2 percent for in-state students and 4.4 percent for out of state students this summer.
State funding goes directly to in-state students’ $14,440 tuition discount. Without state funding, this discount would not be available.
“We look forward to continuing conversations with members of the General Assembly to reach a resolution that benefits all parties,” the university statement said. “There is no overstating the significance of the non-preferred state appropriation as it is key in helping to make the highest quality education accessible for Pennsylvania college students and their families.”
The House also passed a bill Monday that would increase the amount of information state-related universities must release to the public.
Alongside the tuition freezes, House Republicans have been seeking greater transparency in the universities’ budgets to gather a better idea of where state funding, made up of tax dollars, is going.
House Bill 1556, which passed 201-1, would amend Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know law, which requires institutions — including the commonwealth’s four state-related universities: Temple, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pittsburgh — to make financial data and other relevant information public.
“Temple University recognizes the importance of both accountability and transparency,” according to the university statement. “State-related universities are already subject to certain provisions of the Right to Know Law and provide robust disclosures to the Commonwealth. As noted last week in a joint letter that was co-signed by the presidents at all four of Pennsylvania’s state-related institutions, we are open to making additional information public.”
If the bill gets final approval and the governor’s signature, the universities would need to report all officers’ and directors’ salaries, 200 of the highest-paid employees’ salaries and the remaining employees’ salary ranges.
The changes would also require universities to report a list of contracts for goods and third-party services greater than $5,000 to the Governor’s Office and State Library, which holds public records, by May 30 of each year.
Revenue and expenditure budgets of the university’s academic and administrative support units for the 2022-23 and current fiscal years would become available as well, but would not include information on any individual donors.
Additionally, after receiving state appropriations, the institutions would have to submit yearly reports detailing the number of employed full and part-time faculty, student enrollment and credit hour information, the number of courses and instructional programs offered and the number of degrees awarded during the year.
Each university’s Board of Trustees’ public meeting minutes would also be made available online.
These bills will now move to the Senate, where it could be changed and returned to the House, or approved and sent to a committee of House representatives and Senate members for final approval. The Senate is back in session Nov. 13.
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