Apr. 09, 2015
HARRISBURG - Students attending Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities will have to pay more to attend a Pennsylvania state-owned university under Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget due to political bullying by officials in his administration, House Education Committee Chairman Stan Saylor (R-York) said today.
“Over the past two days Governor Wolf sent his senior staff to the State System of Higher Education (SSHE) board meetings with the mission of intimidating them into endorsing the governor’s proposal for massive tax hikes and borrowing against our children’s futures in return for the governor’s ‘promise’ that he would deliver more higher education funding,” Saylor said.
Under the Governor’s budget proposal, SSHE students will actually be paying a lot more for their education if they are forced to pay the increased sales tax included in Wolf’s budget.
Over the past five years, the average annual SSHE tuition increase was approximately 4.5 percent which translates into a $253 average yearly increase in tuition. Comparatively, during recent state budget hearings, higher education officials testified that the expanded Wolf sales tax will cost students over $400 per year when they have to pay new sales tax on textbooks, meal plans, and room and board.
“Students and their families are the real losers in this type of political gamesmanship,” Saylor said.
Representative Stan Saylor
94th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Charles Lardner
717.260.6443
clardner@pahousegop.com
www.RepSaylor.com /
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