Salaries on the Rise at State Universities

By Yasmin Tadjdeh | PA Independent

Tuition isn’t the only expense on the rise this year at Pennsylvania colleges--faculty salaries are, too. 

The state-related universities--Pennsylvania State University, or Penn State; University of Pittsburgh, or Pitt; Temple University and Lincoln University--took a 19 percent cut in state funding this year, losing $63 million, $31.2 million, $32.82 million and $2.62 million, respectively. The 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, or PASSHE, universities are taking a cut of 14.5 percent, or about $70 million. 

Yet, faculty salaries also are on an upward trajectory at Pitt and Temple. 

Pitt is giving a 2 percent pay hike for all employees earning less than $40,000 a year, effective immediately. All other employees will get a 2 percent increase in January. 

John Fedele, associate director of news at Pitt, said the university hopes to retain faculty by giving the pay hikes. 

“It’s important for the university to retain employees,” said Fedele. “We have a very good school here; we want to help keep those people here.” 

Pitt not only is competing with other universities, but also with the private sector, Fedele said, making the wage hikes necessary. 

“I would not consider a 2 percent salary increase egregious,” Fedele said. 

However, Temple has frozen salaries for administrative staff, starting this fiscal year, and implemented hiring and travel freezes. 

Still, unionized faculty, who are represented by the Temple Association of University Professionals, will receive 2 percent pay increases this year as part of their union contracts, approved three years ago.

Temple also has some unionized staff, but no administrative union.

“Higher education is a very people-oriented...(and) people-intensive business,” said Ray Betzner, assistant vice president for university communications at Temple. 

He said salaries are a driving factor for many professors when considering where to work. 

In the PASSHE system, faculty unionized under the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, or APSCUF, received 4 to 9 percent pay raises in 2010-2011 under the terms of union contracts written in 2007, said Kenn Marshall, a PASSHE spokesman. 

For this year, however, non-union staff and administration will not see pay increases, Marshall said. 

As for unionized faculty, their contracts expired June 30 and are under negotiation, said APSCUF spokesman Kevin Kodish. Details on the contracts will be released when an agreement is reached, but there is no deadline. 

Penn State opted not to increase salaries for their faculty this year, although some technical staff including electricians and plumbers, among other employees, will receive pay increases as part of their union contracts, said Lisa Powers, a spokeswoman for the university. 

Holding the line on faculty pay was a difficult decision, given the strong competition among higher education institutions for quality faculty members, said Powers. 

“It’s a decision that we hope will not have deep implications,” Powers said. 

State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which passed the state budget, said the decision to increase faculty wages in the face of budget cuts was up to each university.

“I don’t want to criticize the inner workings of their budget,” said Corman, whose district includes Penn State. “I’m not going to second guess them.” 

Students have taken the brunt of the budget cuts, with tuition increases offsetting nearly the entire state spending cut at some of the universities. Penn State, however, saw its lowest tuition increase in a decade. 

Pitt, Temple, Penn State and the PASSHE schools raised their general in-state tuition for students approximately 8.5 percent, 9.9 percent, 4.9 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. Lincoln has yet to decide on a tuition increase.