Pennsylvania universities are still waiting for state subsidies. It won’t make them more affordable

By BROOKE SCHULTZ
Associated Press/Report for America

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Four of Pennsylvania’s universities are plugging budget gaps while they await hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that has been snarled in a partisan dispute among lawmakers in a state that has one of the nation’s most abysmal record for funding higher education.  The University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln are in line to receive about $623 million, a 7% increase proposed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. The funding levels, however, lag behind where higher education was being funded decades ago and education advocates argue that even a proposed increase in aid won’t make a dent in the underfunding of higher education in the state.