Penn State needs to become more efficient and more accountable for its spending, two Republican candidates for state office argued Wednesday.
The state House candidates, Joyce Haas, of Patton Township, and Ron Reese, of Worth Township, are running for the GOP nomination in the 77th District. The winner on Tuesday — primary election day — is likely to face incumbent state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, in the November general election.
Appearing Wednesday in a candidate forum, Reese said the state government has failed to compel Penn State to keep higher education affordable. ‘The accountability hasn’t been there,’ he said in the forum, held at State College Area High School.
He advocated a voucher-style system for higher education. The $300 million to $400 million that Penn State receives in annual state appropriations would instead be made available as direct student aid, given straight to in-state students, he said.
The students could put that money toward tuition at public or private universities, colleges or trade schools, Reese said. He said that would foment more accountability and competition.
‘Then you would see downward pressure on the cost of education,’ Reese said.
Penn State officials have often criticized the Pennsylvania Legislature over the state appropriations, which are some of the slimmest among comparable universities in the U.S. That has forced the university to raise tuition rates substantially, the university has argued.
Tuition for in-state undergraduates at University Park now tops $13,000 a year, one of the highest tuition rates among public universities in the U.S. The university’s state funding, just more than $300 million for the 2009-2010 academic year, has been relatively flat over the past decade. Meanwhile, the Penn State overall budget has climbed to about $3.7 billion — up more than 100 percent in roughly 10 years.
State money now accounts for about eight percent of the university budget, down from 37 percent in 1970, according to Penn State-supplied data.
But Haas ‘cannot say I would blame (the high tuition) all on what the state has given. … I don’t believe it is the lack of what the state gives that has caused tuition to rise,’ she said.
She said Penn State needs to identify its own wasteful spending and establish more transparency for its budget. The university makes budget summaries available to the public, but often holds as confidential the specific details of line-item spending.
‘I do believe there could be and should be some strings attached’ to the state’s contributions to Penn State, Haas said, raising the prospect of tuition-increase controls. ‘But the biggest string should be the transparency. … If you call yourself a public institution, show some responsibility.’
Haas also argued that ‘there should be no reason’ for the university to seek increases in state funding that outpace cost-of-living increases.
The Wednesday forum, organized by State High senior Maggie Harding as a school project, ran more than half an hour and attracted about 15 students. Their questions ranged from health care and government reform to drug laws and energy policy.
StateCollege.com this weekend will post a thorough overview of the Republican race for the 77th District House seat. The incumbent, Conklin, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the Tuesday primary.
He also is running for his party’s nomination for lieutenant governor. If he wins Democratic nominations for both positions, it’s unclear how Conklin will proceed. But local party leadership has said it’s not unprecedented for a state lawmaker to hold the lieutenant-governor seat simultaneously.
Conklin was in Harrisburg on Wednesday and did not attend the State High forum.
