State higher-education leaders ask for new funding as enrollments fall, capital backlog grows

Acting Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education interim Chancellor Chris Fiorentino and leaders of the state’s community colleges testified to the House Appropriations Committee that longstanding enrollment declines, aging facilities and new workforce needs make additional state funding necessary ahead of the fiscal-year budget.

Fiorentino told the committee that the system has “lost a third of our enrollments” since about 2014 and said state support has become a larger share of the universities’ operating budgets; he added the system is transferring in excess of 95% of credits from community colleges to PASHE schools. Quentin Bullock, president of the Community College of Allegheny County, and other community college leaders described efforts to increase adult enrollment, expand workforce certificates and add partnerships with local employers.

Why it matters: Lawmakers pressed university and college leaders on how state funding would be used amid consolidation of some universities, a multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar deferred maintenance backlog at community colleges and rising student nonacademic needs. Committee members questioned whether proposed increases in the governor’s budget would be sufficient and whether new program requests — including $5 million for noncredit workforce development and $5 million for first‑responder training — should be prioritized.

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