Financial Pressures at Pitt

This post details some of the financial pressures currently affecting the University of Pittsburgh and links to University statements and documents on Pitt’s financial situation.

1. Appropriation Cuts: Pitt, and consequently the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, is funded in part by annual appropriations from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Governor Tom Corbett has fought every year of his gubernatorial term to reduce the amount of money given to Pitt by the commonwealth. in the year July 2010-June 2011, the appropriation was $168 million. In July 2011-June 2012, the appropriation is $136 million. Corbett has proposed an appropriation for July 2012-June 2013 of $95 million, a 43% reduction from two years before.
2. Appropriations and the Dietrich School: The Dietrich School is supported by money from the appropriation, endowments and gifts, and tuition. There are no publicly available records of how much of the appropriation directly funds the Dietrich School. However, it is public knowledge that the Dietrich School is disproportionately affected by changes in the appropriation, because in-state tuition discounts are offered to students of the Dietrich School and not to other professional schools in the University, such as the medical school. The appropriation is meant to offset in-state tuition discounts, among other things, and is allocated with that intention.
3. Appropriation and University Funding: The usable University budget, which excludes research grants associated with specific professors, is around $1.1 billion. The $136 million appropriation is around 17% of this budget.  The $73 million proposed cut to the appropriation next year represents a 5% decrease in the overall University budget, so it is to be expected that the Dietrich School will face a budget cut of more than 5%.

There is not current publicly available information on the actual or expected costs of any of the graduate programs being suspended.

The University Fact Book was used to obtain the numbers used in this report.

This factsheet displays information about the University budget and its impact on graduate programs in more detail and with more visual aids.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg’s statement about the budget cuts