As the State System of Higher Education continues its System Redesign efforts, another major player in the higher education arena has held its first meeting.
Last week, the Higher Education Funding Commission held its organizational meeting, electing Senate Appropriations Chair Pat Browne and House Appropriations Chair Stan Saylor as its co-chairmen.
The nineteen-member commission was established by the legislature this year, with a goal of developing a higher education funding formula and identifying factors that would determine the distribution of funding among the public institutes of higher education in Pennsylvania. The commission’s work involves not only the State System schools, but community colleges, rural regional colleges, state-related institutions, the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, and the Penn College of Technology.
Once the commission submits a new funding formula, it must be approved by the General Assembly. State System officials will keep a close eye on their work… the current state formula provides only 27 percent of the funding per full-time student at schools which the commonwealth owns.
The Higher Education Funding Commission is made up of members of the House, the Senate, and the Wolf Administration. It will hold its first work session sometime this month.
