The Information Disclosure is a summary of revenue and expense data for the four State-related universities. The report is the only public disclosure for much of the information it contains.
The State-related universities are Lincoln University, The Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, and Temple University. The information contained in the report covers their fiscal years of 1995-96 and 1996-97. The disclosure of this information by the universities and the report released by the Commission were required under the universities' appropriation acts for fiscal year 1997. While specifically intended for the use of the House and Senate committees, the report is of interest to educators and the general public. The universities' information disclosures, as they were submitted to the Commission, are available in their libraries and in the four State regional library resource centers, as well as from the Joint State Government Commission.
Because the varied sizes and missions of the universities determine their administrative and academic organizations, direct comparisons between the universities is difficult. An example of what may be compared is average salaries of the faculties and staff by rank and classification. The retirement and tuition benefit policies show differences between the universities as well. Each university's compilation of vendor contracts indicates goods and services purchases resulted in the largest expenditures and which vendors received the largest contracts in 1996-97