Pennsylvania 2024-25 Budget Bolsters Higher Education Funding
Credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images- Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the $47.6 billion bipartisan budget into law on July 11, 2024.
- The budget increases funding for community colleges and scholarships, expands dual enrollment, and improves pathways for nursing students and students from underrepresented groups.
- The state doubled funding for a program that pays student teachers up to $15,000 while they earn their degree.
Pennsylvania is reinvesting millions into higher education in 2025 “after decades of inaction.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro initially signed the state’s bipartisan fiscal year 2024-25 budget into law on July 11. On Aug. 2, he hosted a ceremonial signing ceremony at Cheyney University, the country’s first historically Black university, to celebrate the education initiatives built into the budget.
The $47.6 billion budget increases community college funding and scholarships and expands dual enrollment.
“My administration has made higher education a priority again, and this budget represents the first significant progress on higher education in 30 years,” Shapiro said at the ceremony.
“We’re developing a new vision for higher education — one focused on competitiveness and workforce development and grounded in access and affordability. That vision places an emphasis on Pennsylvania’s HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) — like Cheyney — so they can continue to open doors to opportunity for Pennsylvania students for generations to come.”
The budget is part of Shapiro’s “Blueprint for Higher Education,” which he announced in January. The plan focuses on college affordability, overhauling and uniting the college systems into one system, and creating a performance-based funding model for state institutions.
He previously said that the state has disinvested in its colleges and universities for too long, leaving the higher education systems “running on empty” and lacking pathways and opportunities for students and families.
The budget accomplishes his goals for affordability and a performance-based model.
Pennsylvania’s budget boosts community college funding while changing state university funding to a performance-based formula.
The state increased funding for community colleges by 6%, or $15.7 million, and for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), also by 6 %, or $35.1 million.
Scholarship funding increased by $120 million, including an additional $54 million going to Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency student grants and $5 million for scholarships for disadvantaged students.
The state is also improving educator pathways, which started last year with stipends for student teachers.
Pennsylvania is one of the few states to pay student teachers who educate students as part of their college education and pathway to becoming a K-12 educator. Last year, Shapiro approved the Educator Pipeline Support Grant program, which provides up to $15,000 to eligible student teachers in the state.
Eligible student teachers can use the stipend to help with academic, housing, and personal expenses. Student teachers working in “high-need areas” can earn an additional $5,000. Licensed teachers who agree to mentor student teachers can earn a $2,500 grant.
The 2024-25 budget doubles funding to $20 million for the program.
Alongside educator pathways are investments in technical programs, dual enrollment, and nursing. An additional $30 million is being invested in career and technical education programs and equipment, $7 million in dual enrollment college credits for high schoolers, and $2 million in nursing apprenticeships.
“Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation with a divided legislature — and I’m proud that we came together with leaders in both chambers and both parties to show that we can do big things together to make Pennsylvanians’ lives better,” Shapiro said in a press release.