Pennsylvania’s community colleges and its public university system are set to each receive a 6% increase in state funding under a new budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year signed on Thursday by Gov. Josh Shapiro. Legislation signed Thursday will also create a performance-based funding model for Pennsylvania’s four state-related institutions — Pennsylvania State University, Temple University, Lincoln University and the University of Pittsburgh — which receive some state money but largely operate independently. The new funding scheme is set to take effect in the 2025-26 year. For the 2024-2025 year, general support for some public universities will remain flat. Penn State’s public funding once again was left unchanged at $242.1 million — which falls well short of Shapiro’s previous proposal to increase state-related universities’ budgets by 5% this year, the institution noted in a news release.
