Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visited Shippensburg University Tuesday morning to tout newly approved educational reforms in Pennsylvania, which many have called a blueprint for the rest of the country.
The 2024-25 state budget, which Shapiro signed into law last week and ceremonially signed Tuesday, increases funding for universities within the state system by $35.1 million dollars and community colleges by $15.7 million — a 6% increase for both — and allocates an additional $120 million for scholarships and grants for Pennsylvania students.
"For the first time in decades, we're building a stronger higher education system," Pennsylvania Education Secretary and 1995 SU alum Khalid Mumin said.
Pennsylvania Education secretary and 1995 SU alum Khalid Mumin discusses increased funding for statewide higher education institutions.
Increased budgets will allow universities “to continue the hard work of creating opportunity for students,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro noted that in his 2023 budget address, he laid out plans for reimagining higher education to “stop playing a game of subtraction and start playing a game of addition.”
Since then, the PA Department of Education met with stakeholders across the commonwealth to build what Shapiro called a “blueprint with three key goals” — reinvesting in higher education, making college more affordable for all students and increasing coordination between colleges and universities.
“We made the first significant progress in higher education in 30 years in the Commonwealth,” Shapiro said. “We all should be proud of that.”
A key change coming out of the 2024–25 budget is the creation of a state board of higher education, which will “coordinate and support actions from all state institutions, including the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State and Temple and Lincoln universities — which are not state-owned but receive state funding,” per Inside Higher Ed.
The board will also include a council that will develop a performance-based funding model, using factors like graduation and retention rates, to allocate funds.
“It creates a level of coordination between the colleges and universities,” Shapiro said. “It allows us to share data, it allows us to put a better product out there.”
Hours before Shapiro’s remarks, PASSHE Chancellor Dan Greenstein announced he will step down from his role effective Oct. 11. Shapiro does not anticipate any effects on his reforms due to Greenstein’s resignation and said Greenstein has done “an outstanding job” during his time as chancellor.
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