By DONOVAN HARRELL
The University is requesting a 5 percent increase in state appropriations for the 2021-22 school year.
According to the 2021-22 Operating Budget Request, submitted this month, Pitt is requesting $192.3 million, up from $183.1 million for 2020-21.
This increase includes $178.3 for general support, up from $169.9 million, and $6.8 million for the School of Medicine, up from $6.5 million.
Additionally, the appropriations request includes:
-
$6 million for Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, up from $5.7 million
-
$804,000 for the dental clinic, up from $766,000
-
$321,000 for the Center for Public Health Practice, up from $306,000
This comes after Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said at the May 14 Senate Council meeting that this year “is one of those years where our planning is basically planning for very tight budgets.”
For the current fiscal year, Pitt had requested a 5.5 percent increase from $178 million in 2019-20 to $187.9 million for 2020-21 when it submitted its budget request last fall.
Prior to the pandemic, Pitt’s funding from the state has increased each of the past six years. But the budget passed in May of this year, kept the University’s funding for 2020-21 the same as the previous year. While many items in this year’s budget were only funded through Nov. 30, the supplemental appropriation for Pitt, which comes through the Department of Education, is for the full 12 months starting July 1, 2020.
In his statement to the commonwealth, Gallagher said the full year of funding for the 2020-21 school year was “one definitive bright spot amid all this turbulence.”
“Your support enabled us to plan ahead, to successfully welcome students back to our campuses and to focus on safely advancing our mission during a pandemic,” Gallagher said in the statement. “It also underscores the powerful role that education can play in transforming communities, families and futures throughout the Commonwealth.”
Donovan Harrell is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at dharrell@pitt.edu or 412-383-9905.
Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.