HIGHER ED FUNDING CAMPAIGN

PENNSYLVANIA MUST STOP UNDERFUNDING HIGHER EDUCATION!

Faculty and Staff of the Community College of Philadelphia know that increased funding is essential to ensure that you and your coworkers can do right by our students. We are still waiting for the final calculations, but it seems likely that after our last state budget, which flat funded all public higher education in Pennsylvania, our state will fall from 47th worst-funded in the nation to 49th or 50th. This underfunding is shameful, and it hurts students, workers, and the PA economy.

Our union is working with Higher Education Labor United (HELU) and others to form a growing coalition of public higher ed faculty and staff unions in Pennsylvania to call for the passage of the PA Promise legislation and a 15% increase in general funding for all public higher education types.

January 19, 2026

TELL GOVERNOR SHAPIRO THAT WE NEED HIGHER ED FUNDING!

Show your support by filling out this PA Promise postcard to Governor Shapiro pushing for increased funding for public higher education in PA.

You can fill it out in-person CCP by stopping by the Union office, or fill out the digital version HERE

Listen to FSFCCP member and English Dept faculty member Ernest Owens speak to Pennsylvania State Representative Jordan Harris on 11/23/25 about the lack of state funding for public higher education.

Rep Harris is the Majority Appropriations Committee Chair in the PA House which means that he has a lot of power to set and shape state budget priorities. Listen to the entire conversation and pay particular attention at the 29 minute mark when they discuss the shortcomings in funding for community colleges in PA-- including CCP. To be clear, all of PA's community colleges have not been fully funded by PA since 1982. Full funding would be 1/3 of operating costs-- which is the law that all community colleges in PA were founded with. In the 2025 PA budget, all community college general funding was flat funded which is a continued funding cut given inflation.

RALLY FOR RESPECT: NOV 17, 2025

On Nov. 17th, 2025 FSFCCP members, retirees, and CCP students joined public higher ed union workers from across PA to lobby and rally for increased funding for public higher ed because all three institution types: community colleges, the PASSHE system, and the state-related universities are shamefully underfunded. In fact, PA is 49th in the nation for public higher ed funding! This hurts students, families, workers, and the PA economy.

Even with such a serious mission, you and your coworkers had a good time pushing for the increased state investment CCP and PA needs. We joined higher ed faculty and staff from University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple, APSCUF which represents faculty in the PASSHE state system, Reading Area Community College, and Montgomery County Community College in Harrisburg and have been in conversation with even more union locals across the state. Because the status-quo has failed us all, together, our unions are calling for a 15% increase in funding for all three institution types and for the passage of PA Promise, a grant program that would help families and students pay for the high cost of college.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse