Pa. signs higher education investments into law as a part of 2024-25 state budget

Erin Yudt
·2 min read

(WKBN) — On Friday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed higher education reforms into law as part of the state 2024-25 budget.

The budget includes several initiatives including:

  • Create a new State Board of Higher Education that will, for the first time, coordinate every sector of higher education in Pennsylvania and utilize student-level data to determine what’s working and what’s not. The board will ensure higher education in Pennsylvania supports critical workforce needs and serves as an economic driver for generations to come. The board will also create a performance-based funding council that will develop recommendations on how to create a performance-based funding formula to drive funds to state-related institutions.

  • Invest in public higher education institutions, including a $15.7 million increase – a 6 percent increase – for community colleges and a $35.1 million increase for PASSHE schools – also a 6 percent increase. 

  • Make higher education more affordable for students with over $120 million in increased funding for scholarships and grants, including $28 million for scholarships to students pursuing a degree in a high-demand field, a $54 million increase to PHEAA student grants, and $5 million for disadvantaged students’ scholarships. This includes the Horace Mann Bond-Leslie Pinckney Hill Scholarship Program (Bond-Hill), which provides financial assistance to highly qualified Pennsylvania students from Cheyney University and Lincoln University who pursue approved professional and graduate programs at the Pennsylvania state-related universities and PASSHE universities. 

  • Double funding for student teacher stipends for a total of $20 million to ensure student teachers are compensated for their hard work.

“Every Pennsylvanian deserves the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed, and that’s exactly what this budget delivers,” said Shapiro in a news release. “My Administration has made higher education a priority again, and this budget represents the first significant progress on higher education in 30 years. We’re developing a new vision for higher education — one focused on competitiveness and workforce development and grounded in access and affordability.”

Other initiatives in the 2024-25 budget relating to education include:

  • A $100 million increase in special education funding

  • $3 million for pads and tampons in schools at no cost to students

  • A $17.7 million increase for early childhood education

  • $100 million in sustainable funding for environmental repair and other facilities in schools to create safe and healthy environments for students to learn and teachers to teach in, including $25 million for Solar for Schools

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