00:01 - Neely Ben, deputy president of Penn State University.

00:05 - How does the governor's propose funding for Penn State compared to last years?

00:11 - Well, we are really delighted that after so many years of flat appropriations,

00:16 - the governor has put in a $30 million, ask

00:22 - for all of our state related universities through performance based funding.

00:26 - While that still doesn't alleviate the fundamental concerns we have

00:30 - about funding per student at Penn State, this is a step in the right direction.

00:36 - Does the figure you've cited represent a raise for Penn State?

00:39 - It does not.

00:40 - The 30 million is it the bipartisan legislative action

00:45 - last year to create a small pot of money for performance based funding?

00:50 - Think of it as accountability.

00:51 - So this is the amount that would be shared

00:55 - for Penn State and the other state related institutions.

00:59 - What are the issues you expect lawmakers to zero

01:03 - in on during your appropriation hearing?

01:06 - I am sure that they would want to know

01:08 - what we are doing to prepare students for success, for workforce development.

01:12 - And we have an extraordinary story to tell there for the 240

01:17 - plus million that we get from the state, and the state contributes

01:20 - $15.8 billion to the state's economy.

01:25 - So it's hard to think of a better return on investment.

01:29 - I am sure that they will have questions about how we manage

01:32 - our different priorities.

01:34 - And, I'm anxious to tell them what we are doing

01:38 - and how Penn State is so pivotal to the state's economy.

01:42 - How have enrollment figures affected your costs?

01:46 - Enrollment, overall for Penn

01:48 - State tends to be very strong, and we are very grateful for that.

01:52 - But the reality is that there is a demographic cliff that is here today.

01:57 - And this doesn't take rocket science, Larry.

02:00 - If you look at the number of one and two year olds in, in the state today,

02:04 - that group is about 20% less

02:08 - than the 18 year olds we have in college right now.

02:11 - So that Cliff is going to continue.

02:13 - And so we all have to be very thoughtful

02:16 - about how we prepare our students for success

02:20 - when there is a diminishing market for college going students.

02:25 - Well, how is Penn State keeping its courses relevant for today's students?

02:30 - Thank you for asking that.

02:31 - I've always felt that curriculum should be like, no,

02:34 - it should come with an expiration date, right?

02:36 - It doesn't mean that the concepts we teach on new,

02:39 - but it might be the pedagogy.

02:41 - It might be the way we engage.

02:42 - It might be drawing the relevance of ancient thought to today's problems.

02:47 - We are engaging in a holistic review of everything we teach

02:51 - and this is a commitment to make our offerings better,

02:55 - more attuned to the needs of society, not just for the jobs of today,

03:01 - but for the jobs of tomorrow that none of us knows.

03:04 - We also take very seriously our role in

03:07 - preparing an educated citizenry for democracy.

03:11 - That is also part and parcel of what higher education does.

03:15 - Nearly been deputy president of Penn State University.

03:18 - Thank you.

03:19 - Thank you so very much for this opportunity.