Penn State Funding Holds Steady With State Legislation

The Pennsylvania State General Legislature has approved its general support appropriation of $242.1 million for Penn State in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The budget will sit on the desk of Governor Josh Shapiro for his approval.

The university’s funding fell short of Shapiro’s proposal to increase funding to all state-related universities by 5% and Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi’s proposal of $368.1 million. Starting in 2025-26, Pennsylvania will being funding Penn State, Pitt, and Temple based on a performance-based model. The funding is designed to reward universities for achieving outcomes-based metrics that have yet to be settled upon.

“The funding we receive from the commonwealth is critical to our public mission to serve Pennsylvania students at our campuses across Pennsylvania,” Bendapudi said in a statement . “Our students and families rely on this funding and the significant cost savings it provides through our in-state tuition rate. Thousands more Pennsylvanians benefit from the many programs and services offered through Penn State Extension, Penn State Health, and Invent Penn State that are made possible because of state appropriations.”

Penn State receives the lowest funding for all state-related universities in Pennsylvania, coming in at $5,757 per in-state undergraduate. Penn State’s funding from the state government hasn’t budged since the university got a 2% funding bump going into the 2019-20 fiscal year. Since then, inflation has risen nearly 22%.