Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf approved House Bill 2244 in a late-night signing Friday, providing Temple University a $155.1 million appropriation to support the university’s budget for the upcoming school year.
The increase is about $4.5 million more than last year’s contribution from the Commonwealth.
“We continue to monitor the state budget process and advocate for Temple,” wrote University Spokesperson Brandon Lausch in a statement to The Temple News. “These vital dollars from the Commonwealth will support Temple’s core mission to provide excellence in education and access to high-quality, affordable programs.”
Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh and other state-related institutions also received funding increases of about 3 percent.
Appropriations have not always been stable. With state appropriations secure, administrators are no longer concerned that the impasse that started in October threatened the $12,000 tuition discount in-state Temple students receive.
In February, President Richard Englert asked the state to send Temple almost $173 million in state funding, but officials told the university to expect flat funding for a third year in a row.
Ken Kaiser, Temple’s chief financial officer and treasurer told The Temple News in October that the university would have considered raising tuition rates for in-state students if funding negotiations continued to stall, and refund them if a budget was passed at a later time.
This increase brings Temple closer to its state funding levels before appropriations were slashed in 2011 by more than 20 percent.
Temple’s Board of Trustees will convene in Sullivan Hall on July 10 to finalize tuition rates for the 2018-2019 school year, taking into consideration the state budget funding.
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