Aug 31, 2023 2 min read

More than 165,000 students soon will head to campus at Penn State, Temple, and Lincoln universities and the University of Pittsburgh, long before the state Senate returns to Harrisburg Sept. 18 and the House straggles in on Sept. 26.

Pitt and Penn State students face some of the nation’s highest costs for public universities, according to an analysis by the online site Degreechoices, but the Legislature has failed to pass funding for in-state tuition discounts.

According to the Degreechoices analysis, Pitt has the nation’s second-highest in-state tuition rate for a public university, at $20,362; Penn State came in at eighth-highest, at $18,898. Both schools scored well for academic progress and graduation rates. The highest tuition for a public school was for the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

Presiding over some of the highest tuitions is just one way that lawmakers undervalue higher education. Many of them advocate less emphasis on four-year degrees and more emphasis on community college education, which focuses more on specific job training. Yet a national analysis by the consumer finance website WalletHub ranked Pennsylvania 39th of the 41 states it studied for community college performance. It included 13 of Pennsylvania’s 15 community college systems.

The state’s low ranking was due almost entirely to cost. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Pennsylvania’s average annual community college tuition and fees was $5,441 in 2021, among the highest in the nation. That survey also found that the community colleges generally performed well in terms of academic progress, graduation rates and job placement.

State funding accounts for about 37% of community college revenue, among the lowest rates nationally. Students pay an average of about 43% out-of-pocket, among the highest rates nationally.

Many politicians in Harrisburg demonize higher education as a left-wing political incubators rather than as a powerful economic engine for Pennsylvania. By failing to treat education as a public good and funding it accordingly, lawmakers set the stage for the state getting what it pays for — long-term, second-tier economic performance.

– Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice