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- Gov. Josh Shapiro plans to handle and enhance Pennsylvania’s higher education system, identified for its low affordability and unfavorable rankings.
- Pennsylvania ranks poorly in higher education assist, pupil debt and school affordability, spending much less per capita than most states.
- The proposed finances goals to provide substantial assist to state-owned universities, neighborhood faculties and their college students.
Gov. Josh Shapiro plans subsequent month to suggest steps towards fixing a higher education system in Pennsylvania that’s among the many worst within the nation in affordability, his administration mentioned Friday.
The administration did not launch many specifics and mentioned the Democratic governor would give extra particulars in his Feb. 6 finances handle.
By nearly each measure there’s, Pennsylvania is ranked on the backside amongst states within the degree of higher education assist, measurement of pupil debt and affordability of its faculties. Pennsylvania spends much less per capita on higher education assist than some other state besides New Hampshire, Shapiro’s administration mentioned.
PENNSYLVANIA POISED TO ALLOW LONGER SCHOOL DAYS, SHORTER WEEKS
This yr’s spending of about $2 billion on higher education is about the identical because it was 15 years in the past.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks throughout an interview within the state Capitol in Harrisburg, PA., on Dec. 20, 2023. Shapiro plans to suggest steps towards fixing a higher education system in Pennsylvania that’s among the many worst within the nation in affordability, his administration mentioned Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Shanken)
In his finances, Shapiro will suggest “significant” assist for state-owned universities, neighborhood faculties and their college students, the administration mentioned.
The 14 state-owned universities and 15 unbiased neighborhood faculties must be united beneath a governance system that improves coordination between the faculties and limits the competitors and duplication between them, the administration mentioned.
After that, Shapiro desires to reduce tuition and costs to greater than $1,000 per semester for Pennsylvania college students who attend a state-owned college and have a family revenue beneath the state median of about $70,000.
DEMOCRAT-BACKED REPORT CLAIMS PENNSYLVANIA OWES DISTRICTS $5B IN EDUCATION FUNDING
The administration couldn’t instantly say how a lot cash that may require, or the place that quantity of assist would place Pennsylvania in state rankings.
Eventually, the state would develop an assist formulation rewarding higher education establishments for components together with rising enrollment and commencement fee, the administration mentioned.
Schools would get incentives to recruit and help college students to full levels and earn credentials in rising fields and fields with workforce shortages, the administration mentioned.
The concepts sprang from a working group of school and college presidents that had been assembled final yr by the Shapiro administration.
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