U. requests $40 million from state

The University asked the state last month for over $40 million worth of funding for the 1993-1994 fiscal year, which begins this summer, Budget Director Stephen Golding said yesterday. Golding also said the University is anxiously awaiting an answer to a request to restore state funding for the current fiscal year. The answer is expected sometime in March. This year's funding was not included in the budget passed last summer by the legislature. Gov. Robert Casey earlier had recommended that the University receive zero funding from the state. The proposal for the '93-'94 fiscal year requests a full restoration of fiscal year '91-'92 funding levels -- $41.2 million -- with a six percent increase for most programs. The University is requesting a greater increase for the Veterinary School. Paul Cribbins, director of City and Commonwealth Relations, said it is difficult to predict whether the state legislature will agree to restore funding for the current fiscal year and fund the University for the '93-'94 fiscal year. "At this point it is virtually impossible to predict what [the state is] going to do," Cribbins said. "We have some support in the legislature, but the question is whether there is enough support." Golding said that Casey will dole out a $200 million supplemental appropriation and might consider using part of that to fund the University. Golding added there is a "fair chance" that some funding will be restored, but agreed that it was hard to know what the legislature and governor might do. "What we're hearing from Harrisburg is that we have our supporters," Golding said. "We've been working all summer and fall with a delegation of legislators for full funding for the Vet School and we have had a positive response. There is a lot of sympathy and support for our position." Golding said that he, Cribbins, Acting Executive Vice President John Gould, and Vet School Dean Edwin Andrews all have been to Harrisburg to lobby for the University's funding proposals. The University is continuing to lobby hard for restoration of funding, Cribbins said. "We've been talking to the leadership in all four caucuses [of the legislature], and we will be with leadership people over the next month or two," he said. Both Golding and Cribbins said they will have a better idea of the University's chances of receiving funding for the next fiscal year after the legislature votes on the current year's request. A decision on the '93-'94 funding request is expected in June, Golding said. He added the University is under a lot of financial pressure and if funding is not restored, the University "would entertain other relationships" with the state. "We made the decision last November to admit another class to the Veterinary School, so we are committed to funding those students for four years," Golding said. "Our problem is that we do not have enough budgeting flexibility to transfer $16 to $17 million to the Vet School." That figure represents the amount of funding the Vet School has received from the state in the past and which the University must find some way of supplying in order for the Vet School to continue operating as it does. Golding added that a "great deal of tension" has been caused by the question of whether the University can afford to continue running the Vet School, which has relied on the state for about 40 percent of its annual operating budget. "We are continuing to look for new ways of financing the entire University, including the Vet School, and press for a restoration of state funding," Golding said. "But we must protect the other 11 schools from too much loss."

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