Administration

Heard on Campus: Eric Barron, Penn State president

Penn State President Eric Barron welcomed students to participate in "The President's Forum on the Penn State Budget" on March 30 at Hintz Alumni Center. Barron started the event by providing information on how the university budget is developed followed by an open question and answer forum with the students. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn StateCreative Commons

“Penn State has less money than the average Big Ten university. … Now, compare that with the state-appropriated dollars of all of our peers. … The picture develops very clearly that it costs a certain amount to provide you with a quality education. I can benchmark how efficient I am against these institutions to compare how much I have to invest with how much money my peers have to invest.

“And I know I'm in the bottom half of the Big Ten in terms of the amount of money that I have to spend. On the other hand, the ranking of Penn State among public institutions in the Big Ten puts us at No. 2 or No. 4, depending on the year. So, the quality rank delivered by our dollars is in the top quarter of the Big Ten.

“The dollars we have to do it with are in the bottom half of the Big Ten. I don't know of anything that proves more that your institution knows how to invest a dollar in a way to deliver quality. We’re not wasting our money on things that don't deliver quality, and the quality of this institution is something that's going to affect you for the rest of your life.”

— Penn State President Eric Barron, speaking about the Penn State budget and state appropriation process, and how it impacts students. After reviewing this year’s Penn State state appropriation request and explaining how the budget is formed, Barron took questions from the crowd of University Park students and Commonwealth Campus and World Campus students watching online.

The forum was recorded and will be available at budget.psu.edu for those who were unable able to attend or tune in Monday evening.

President Barron addressed appropriations committees for both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly on March 24, pledging, through a series of new initiatives and a robust partnership with the Commonwealth, to do everything within his power to promote access to and affordability of a top-flight Penn State education for all Pennsylvanians, and to strengthen the University’s position as a major driver of job creation and economic development.

Last Updated March 30, 2015