Mastriano's call for tuition freeze brings cries of hypocrisy from Democratic opponents

HARRISBURG (KDKA) - Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor, wants the four state-related universities to freeze their tuition this fall.

As political editor Jon Delano reports, it's a call that Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro and his running mate call "hypocritical."

Tuition is going up 3.5 percent for in-state students this fall at the University of Pittsburgh and 5 percent at Penn State, along with increases at Temple and Lincoln universities.

On Monday, Mastriano sent a letter to those schools, urging them to freeze tuition this fall because Gov. Tom Wolf is giving the schools an additional 5 percent funding boost from his discretionary portion of federal stimulus dollars. The Republican-controlled legislature did not increase the funding for these schools this year, but cut a one-time deal to allow the governor to use certain COVID-related funds to boost aid.

Mastriano wrote to the heads of the universities, noting, "(T)otaling more than $40 million for general support and other outreach programs. This is in addition to the nearly $600 million appropriated from the state budget. With that in mind, I urge you to reconsider raising tuition for thousands of students from middle class families and to freeze the in-state tuition rate."
           
"I think it's hypocritical for Senator Mastriano to now call for a tuition freeze when literally just a few weeks ago in the state budget negotiation process, he advocated for fully defunding the University of Pittsburgh and other state-related schools," says state Rep. Austin Davis, Shapiro's running mate and candidate for lieutenant governor. "He was holding that money hostage."

It's a reference to Republican lawmakers who wanted to deny state funding to Pitt over medical research using fetal tissue.

Davis says Pennsylvania needs a governor who supports full funding for state universities to make them affordable to all.

Delano: "Should there be a tuition freeze for in-state students this fall?"

Davis: "We believe we should be doing everything we can in state government to make college affordable to folks here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

KDKA reached out to Ptt and Penn state. Penn State has not yet responded, but a Pitt spokesperson said no tuition freeze, but this: "We are grateful for Governor Wolf's continued support of the University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania's students and families. We plan to devote this additional $7.7 million, which is allocated from federal COVID-relief funds, to support student financial aid and outreach."