Congress of the Gnited States ‘Washington, DE 20515 July 10, 2009 ‘The Honorable Arne Duncan Secretary of Education US Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20202 Dear Secretary Duncan: We are writing to address an issue of great concern to the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lincoln University and current and prospective students of higher education throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. ‘The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recently submitted an application for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds that excludes Maintenance of Effort funding for the aforementioned state-related universities. This is in direct contrast to the previous preliminary application for SFSF funding, in which the Commonwealth sought $41,946,000 for the four institutions. The rationale for excluding these four institutions was cited as such: “The Commonwealth's 'state-related universities’ are excluded from all calculations for purposes of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. While these four institutions receive limited taxpayer support, they do so through a 'non-preferred appropriation’ which is defined as‘an appropriation to any charitable ot educational institution not under the absolute contro! of the Commonwealth.” ‘The Commonwealth’s application is at odds with the letter and spirit of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Section 14002, which clearly notes that states are to provide funds to public institutions of higher education. Further, the intent of the law is equally apparent - that federal funds are to be used to shield students at institutions of higher education that are supported by state tax dollars from unreasonable tuition increases due to fiscal pressures current economic conditions have placed on state budgets. We are concerned that the Commonwealth's approach as outlined in their recent application does nothing to shield students from tuition hikes, and in fact these actions may directly contribute to an increase in student tuition, An arbitrary re-definition of these Universities as non-publie, simply because the institutions are not, "under the absolute control of the Commonwealth," sets dangerous precedent. If the Department of Education approves the Commonwealth's application as writen, it would also provide other states the ability to pick and choose which public institutions they may support with federal dollars.‘The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lincoln University play a clear and important role as public institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania statutory and case law. We have concern that it is not within the Commonwealth’s power to subjectively alter the legal status of institutions because they do not exercise “absolute control" over these institutions. We respectfully request that the Department of Education provide a careful examination of Pennsylvania’s latest application for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds, We strongly believe that by following the spirit and intent of the ARRA, the Department of Education will reject the application in current form, and compel the Commonwealth to use federal funds to maintain state support for every public institution of higher education in Pennsylvania, including the state-related universities, ‘Thank you for your attention to this matter, we look forward to your timely response. Sincerely, were Pe : Tim Holden Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson Member of Congress Member of Congress Bill Shuster oo Christiipher Camey Member of Congress Mentber of Congress Charles W. Dent Member of Congress Raa 2 Jim Gerlach . Member of Congress Member of Congress Todd Russell Platts Robert A. Brady Member of Congress Member of Congress Tak Tim Murphy Member of Congress Be ciebh Eceates estak Patrick J. Murphy Member of Congress Member of Congress