Penn State OKs freeze on in- state tuition
Penn State University in- state undergraduates will see a tuition freeze for the second consecutive year in 2019- 20 following a vote Thursday by the school’s board of trustees.
The full board and its committees are meeting on the university’s Brandywine campus in Delaware County, west of Philadelphia.
Approval of student tuition for 2019- 20 and a $ 6.8 billion operating budget for the main University Park campus and two dozen other locations statewide are among the agenda items.
The board action keeps the instate rate on the main University Park campus at $ 17,416 for the upcoming school year, not counting room, board and other fees.
“Promoting affordability in the face of rising costs has not been easy, but we are working hard as a University to maintain and grow the quality of our academic programs, invest in the future, and continue to serve as an innovator in higher education,” Penn State President Eric Barron said. “These goals have been and continue to be top priorities for our Board of Trustees and a focus for my administration.”
In a statement, the university said Pennsylvania undergraduates now pay, when figuring in inflation, less than they did five years ago, as the Consumer Price Index increased by 9.13% from 2015 to 2019, and Penn State’s in- state tuition rate increased by just 5.09% during the same period.
Penn State has about 97,000 students, including 46,000 on its main
campus. Both totals in 201819 were down slightly from the previous year.
Non- Pennsylvania residents will see an increase of 1.95%, translating to a lowerdivision, undergraduate increase of $ 660 a year at University Park, and between $ 400 and $ 458 a year at the Commonwealth Campuses, based on the University’s campus- specific tuition tiers.
Pennsylvania’s public university tuition and fees historically have placed secondor third- highest nationally among states, driven in large part by prices at the state- related campuses including Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh. Those schools, in turn, have blamed state funding levels that are historically near the bottom among states.
Last year, Penn State voted to freeze tuition for all Pennsylvania undergraduates.
Earlier this month, the State System of Higher Education’s board of governors voted to freeze tuition at the 14 state- owned universities for the second time in the system’s nearly 40 years, the last time being 1998- 99.
Temple University also froze tuition for 2019- 20.
Pitt, meanwhile, approved a 2.75% increase in the base, main- campus instate tuition to $ 18,628 a year for undergraduates effective this fall, and a 5% increase for out- of- state students to $ 32,656. It is raising branch campus prices by 2%.
The State System base tuition for 2019- 20 will remain at $ 7,716 across the system, though several campuses now set full- time tuition per credit. Starting next year, individual campuses will have new freedom to set their own tuition rates, pending system review.
At Pitt’s largest school, arts and sciences, the 2019- 20 increase means students will pay $ 498 more in undergraduate tuition compared with the prior academic year. Pennsylvania residents at the regional campuses will pay between $ 218 and $ 330 more annually compared to the prior academic year.