Current:Home > reviewsPennsylvania GOP lawmakers roll out higher ed plan built around grants and tuition discounts -Prime Capital Blueprint
Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers roll out higher ed plan built around grants and tuition discounts
View
Date:2025-04-14 14:51:41
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania on Wednesday rolled out a counterproposal to Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro ‘s plan to boost college enrollment in Pennsylvania, pledging help for both in-state and out-of-state students who enroll in degree programs for high-priority disciplines, such as teaching and nursing.
The proposal, which revolves around grants and tuition discounts, is backed by Republican leadership in the GOP-controlled Senate, as well as in the House, where Democrat maintain control. Republicans also signaled that key elements of Shapiro’s higher education plan rolled out earlier this year are essentially dead in the Legislature.
Republicans view their proposal as an effort to counter the demographic trend of a shrinking workforce in Pennsylvania, declining enrollments in higher education institutions and shortages in high-need disciplines that are pitting states against each other to compete for those workers.
“How we get kids, not only to be educated here, but get them to stay here, we’ve got to find a way to bring that all together, because we’re going to have some severe workforce gaps,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Scott Martin, R-Lancaster, said in an interview. “We already have them. They’re just going to grow larger, especially as the baby boomers are all retiring and aging out. And we hear constantly now from employers who are really ringing alarm bells.”
Enrollments have been falling for years at Pennsylvania’s state-owned university system, Penn State’s satellite campuses and the state’s 15 community colleges.
This year’s state government spending of $2 billion on higher education is virtually the same as it was 16 years ago, and Pennsylvania ranks at the bottom among states in the level of higher education aid, size of student debt and affordability of its colleges by just about every measurement there is.
The Republican plan comes after years of debates around Democrats pushing to send more money to higher education institutions, including former Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2020 proposal for a $200 million college-scholarship program. Republicans have balked at increasing aid amid rising tuition and talked instead about redirecting aid from institutions to student grants.
Under the GOP plan, one new program would provide grants of $5,000 a year to Pennsylvania students who go to school in Pennsylvania. Another new program would extend the in-state tuition discount at Pennsylvania’s state-owned university system to out-of-state students who maintain a grade-point-average of at least 2.5.
To be eligible, those students must enroll in a degree program for a high-priority discipline. After graduating, they would have to remain in Pennsylvania for 15 months for every year they accepted a grant.
Republicans also want to expand an existing $2,500 annual grant program for in-state students by relaxing the grade-point-average requirement and boosting family income eligibility.
They declined to put a price tag on the program. Martin mentioned nursing, teaching, criminal justice sector and large-animal veterinarians as examples of workforce shortages, but said lawmakers would settle on a way to decide which disciplines are considered high priorities.
The plan does not envision ending aid to institutions.
One element similar to Shapiro’s plan is a proposal to create a new process around approving hundreds of millions of dollars in annual state aid to three major state-related universities — Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University.
The schools would be rewarded for meeting certain performance incentives, such as graduation rates and students enrolled in particularly high-need degree programs. But an institution wouldn’t necessarily get more aid every year.
In a statement, Shapiro’s office said it welcomed the signal that Republicans agree with Shapiro that doing nothing to fix the state’s higher education system is “not an option.”
“We’re encouraged to hear Senate Republican leadership agree we need to take action to make our higher education system more competitive, create more opportunity for students and families, and address Pennsylvania’s workforce needs,” Shapiro’s office said.
However, top Republicans also suggested that key elements of Shapiro’s higher education plan are essentially dead.
That included uniting the 10 state-owned universities — including 14 campuses — and 15 independent community colleges under a governance system and cutting tuition and fees at state-owned universities to no more than $1,000 a semester for Pennsylvania students whose household income is below $70,000.
The chancellor of Pennsylvania’s state-owned university system, Dan Greenstein, has warned for years that Pennsylvania needs to greatly increase the number of adults with degrees for its economy to meet demand and keep pace with other states.
___
Follow Marc Levy: http://twitter.com/timelywriter
veryGood! (6986)
Related
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Murder on Music Row: Phone calls reveal anger, tension on Hughes' last day alive
- NFL Week 1 injury report: Updates on Justin Herbert, Hollywood Brown, more
- Derek Jeter to be Michigan's honorary captain against Texas
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- Jax Taylor Shares He’s Been Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder and PTSD Amid Divorce
- Auburn police fatally shoot man at apartment complex
- Why Kristin Cavallari Is Showing Son Camden’s Face on Social Media
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- Do smartphone bans work if parents push back?
Ranking
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Coast Guard, Navy team up for daring rescue of mother, daughter and pets near Hawaii
- Murder on Music Row: Phone calls reveal anger, tension on Hughes' last day alive
- Bus crashes into students and parents in eastern China, killing 11 and injuring 13, police say
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Russian missile strike kills 41 people and wounds 180 in Ukrainian city of Poltava, Zelenskyy says
- Florida man sentenced for attacking Jewish teens
- Tamra Judge’s Mom Roasts Her Over Her Post Cosmetic Procedure Look on Her Birthday
Recommendation
Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
Gun shops that sold weapons trafficked into Washington, DC, sued by nation’s capital and Maryland
Russian missile strike kills 41 people and wounds 180 in Ukrainian city of Poltava, Zelenskyy says
Overnight shootings along Seattle-area interstate injure 4
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
James Darren, 'Gidget' and 'T.J. Hooker' star, dies at 88 after hospitalization: Reports
US Open: Jessica Pegula reaches her 7th Grand Slam quarterfinal. She is 0-6 at that stage so far
Steelers' Arthur Smith starts new NFL chapter with shot at redemption – and revenge