SHARON -- The University will pay $2.8 million more to run the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in 1989-90, and students there will pay an additional $1,036 to attend the college under the budget passed by the University Board of Trustees Saturday.
Although the center received a 6 percent increase in state appropriations, that amount does not provide an additional $2.8 million requested by Penn State, said University President Bryce Jordan. State appropriations comprise only 17 percent of the center's overall budget, he said.
"This is a very austere budget at Hershey and we think this cannot continue," Jordan said. The center includes the College of Medicine and the University Hospital, which operate on separate budgets.
Tuition for in-state and out-of-state students at the center, which is the most expensive medical school in the country, increased by $1,036 for the second consecutive year.
While the tuition increase at the center is 9 percent for in-state students, out-of-state students will pay a 5.95 percent increase.
The University Hospital's support comes from patient income, research grants, physician donations and fundraising activities, said C. McCollister Evarts, senior vice president for health affairs and dean of the College of Medicine. Currently, the hospital contributes about $9.2 million to the College of Medicine, he said.
Jordan warned that the hospital cannot subsidize the college much longer. Facing a shortage of space, the hospital is unable to receive the greatest possible income from potential patients and does not have profits to contribute, he said.
The center ranked last in a survey of federal funds received by 74 public medical colleges in Pennsylvania, Evarts said.
While the typical University college receives about $30 million in state funding, the center receives only $4.5 million, he said.
According to an Association of Medical Colleges survey, the center's staff salaries are below the midpoint, Evarts said.
A hospital addition, which may be completed in the spring of 1991, will generate funds by increasing the number of beds from 340 to 500 - money that could go to the college, Evarts said.
