Were you counting on that refund to pay for books, rent and maybe food? So was I, and so were thousands of other college students in Pennsylvania. Time spent studying or with family is now spent on a part-time job. Some students are taking out extra loans or reaching into their parents’ savings to make up for the missing Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) money.
Pennsylvania has yet to approve an annual budget. Gov. Tom Wolf and the state House of Representatives are at an impasse. The House is currently majority Republican and Wolf is a Democrat. In the last vote against Wolf’s proposed budget changes, on Oct. 7, the House voted 127-73 against the changes, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. All of the Republicans were in opposition, along with nine of the Democrats. The impasse hit 100 days on Oct. 7 and there is possibly a long road ahead.
Republican state Rep. Rob Kauffman had this to say: “With the current unwillingness to negotiate, this could realistically go on for months. Fortunately, it appears that legislative Democrats are becoming increasingly frustrated by Gov. Wolf’s apparent unwillingness to compromise. So, I remain hopeful that we can get to a veto-proof 2/3 majority within the next month.”
What does this mean for us as students and faculty? According to an article on pennlive.com from Aug. 3, Shippensburg University sent a letter to the faculty union chapter offices advising them of potential layoffs.
According to the article, universities had until Oct. 30 to decide if there will be any actual layoffs. It states that the possible layoffs were due to the need for more state funding.
Will SU and other Pennsylvania schools need to start shutting down?
“PASSHE schools, including SU, should be fine well into the spring. Although they receive a significant amount of state funding, it is small as a percentage of their operating budget. So SU should have the operating funds to continue on,” Kauffman said.
Although things are tough for some of us right now, there is hope that it will be over soon. In the best case scenario, the vote will pass within the next month and we will have our PHEAA money soon. Schools will not need to close and SU will be safe from layoffs. As we go into to the Thanksgiving season, we can hopefully count many things for which to be grateful.
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