PA. College Funding to be Slashed by $257 Million to Pay for $248 Million Cut in Business Taxes

[JPZenger]

7. Corbett's Explanation Today

Corbett today answered some questions on his budget, which was broadcast on PCN.

1. He kept saying that he taught in a school for a year. (He then left to go to a 4th tier law school along the Mexican border).

2. He justified the cuts to Penn State by complaining that it costs $93,000 to earn a Penn State degree. He said Penn State needs to decide whether it is a public or private university. (Is he encouraging Penn State to go private, and charge much more tuition to Pennsylvania residents???)

3. He didn't mention that he also is cutting community colleges, which provide the most affordable tuition and serve large numbers of low income students and displaced workers in need of retraining.

4. He justified the cuts to the universities by saying that truck drivers make more than school teachers.

5. He justified the cuts to the universities by saying that there are not enough teaching jobs for all of the people who graduate from public and private colleges in PA. with teaching degrees. (Actually this is an economic anchor for PA. - many out of state students come to college in PA because we have so many good universities and so many places for education and nursing students compared to neighboring states. If the quality of PA. public colleges deteriorate, we will not attract these thousands of out of state students. These out of state students pay much higher tuition to public colleges, and effectively subsidize in-state tuition. Governor Christie has a major initiative to convince more New Jersey students to attend college in New Jersey instead of leaving for PA. colleges).

6. He kept repeating that he refused to increase taxes. He didn't mention that his budget includes a $247 million business tax reduction that approximately equal to the $257 million he wants to cut from public colleges. He also didn't mention other ways of raising revenue, such as closing the Delaware loophole that allows large corporations to avoid paying their fair share of PA. taxes by funneling profits to subsidiaries in the state of Delaware. Many other states have closed that loophole.