SLIPPERY ROCK — Six students and faculty members from Slippery Rock University will set out for Harrisburg on Monday to participate in a rally advocating for more public funding of Pennsylvania's state-owned universities.

The rally, which will begin at noon in the rotunda of the state Capitol building, was organized by the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties. The association represents Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities, and says funding for the institutions has lagged in recent years.

When the state system was founded in the 1980s, the universities received more than 60 percent of their funding from the commonwealth.

Today, only about a quarter of the system's funding comes from government appropriations — a situation APSCUF's president, Kenneth Mash, said is resulting in “skyrocketing” student debt, hundreds of lost employees and the cancellation of more than 100 programs since 2011.