With tuition increasing at several colleges in the region, a state House Republican policy committee on Thursday took testimony from college administrators and professors about the importance of keeping higher education affordable.
The majority of the testimony at Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood focused on the breadth of opportunities offered by Pennsylvania's 14 community colleges, but stressed their struggle to avoid tuition increases because of the state funding model.
Nationally, community colleges receive about 42 percent of their funds from state governments, 24 percent from local governments, 18 percent from tuition and fees and 16 percent from other sources, according to Dennis DiCicco, a WCCC trustee.
In Pennsylvania, he said, tuition and fees cover 41 percent of the funding on average, while the state contributes 33 percent and the local government gives 15 percent.
For this year, the per-credit tuition at WCCC increased by $5 to $73.
"I do not believe the Westmoreland County commissioners want to turn their back on the community college, but how can the county increase its contribution when facing a budget that is largely dedicated to mandatory services and with pressures from the public not to increase property taxes?" DiCicco said.
Public schools across the region raised their rates this year, with students at the main campus of the University of Pittsburgh paying the biggest increase, 6.5 percent.
Meanwhile, state-owned schools, like Indiana University of Pennsylvania and California University of Pennsylvania, charged 2.75 percent more this year.
Penn State University, which raised its tuition by 5.5 percent this year, has pushed its rates up 74 percent since 2001.
In that time, the population of low-income and middle-income students has dropped by 4 percent and 9 percent, respectively, said Donald Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State.
The average loan debt for Penn State students is 25 percent higher than the national average, he said.
"My concern is we're becoming more of an elite institution, and we are moving away from our mission of being a land-grant university," Heller said.
Joe Forrester, president of Community College of Beaver County, said higher education typically is seen as "discretionary and a place where cuts could be made" during difficult economic times.
"Unfortunately, this is also the time when families turn to community colleges seeking to train for new jobs, and we find ourselves increasing tuition at the time when students and families are least able to pay for college," Forrester said.
Others who testified, like Jamie Walker Burns, lauded the education offered by WCCC.
Three of Burns' four children have received degrees there.
"My kids were very blessed to have the experiences that they had here," said Burns of Penn Township. "The opportunities are here for students. They have to take responsibility for them."
Joanne Cecchi, the assistant superintendent for the New Kensington-Arnold School District, graduated from WCCC in 1974 before transferring to IUP. She's now completing a doctoral program.
"It's very affordable, it's very convenient, and it's very accessible," she said of a community college education. "But it will not hold you back in whatever you want to do."
The committee yesterday included Rep. Jess Stairs, of Acme; Rep. Mike Turzai, of Bradford Woods, Allegheny County; and Rep. Scott Hutchinson, of Venango County.
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
