State universities will set their own tuition rates

Policy change to take effect in fall of 2020

Starting in fall 2020, individual state-owned universities in Pennsylvania will set their own tuition in a major policy change that also gives them new freedom to decide how much financial aid to dispense and in what form.

In what leaders of the State System of Higher Education called the biggest single decision so far in a redesign begun in 2017, all 14 campuses can start establishing tuition rates two years at a time, by no later than April 30 each year, rather than the current practice of doing so in July for a single year, just weeks before the new academic year. The second year’s figure will be tentative.

Final passage by voice vote came as the system’s board of governors met in Harrisburg. It was unanimous.

The changes, developed over many months, ultimately could affect 98,000 students systemwide, although officials have said they expect not all schools will adopt the change immediately, given the complexities in planning required.

Officials concede the most “punishing” work is still ahead, creating campus price strategies that generate enough revenue to stabilize struggling campuses while avoiding cost increases so steep as to drive away more middleand lower-income students.

Both income groups have been enrolling in declining numbers at some universities, officials said.

“I actually consider this a moral imperative,” board chairwoman Cynthia Shapira said as she expressed her support Thursday. “I can’t state this more strongly.”

Officials have said schools need more flexibility to set rates that reflect regional economies and student markets in their areas, as well as students’ ability to pay.

Some, including representatives of Gov. Tom Wolf, have expressed concern about previous experiments with campus pricing, including full-time undergraduate per-credit tuition, saying impacts such as higher costs had not been adequately researched.

One school, Mansfield University, asked to be extracted from an experiment that created so many tuition rates — up to 34 — that it confused families and administrators.

This week, though, key leaders appeared more confident that a mechanism was in place that ensured the proper balance, including provisions requiring individual campuses to periodically report impacts on student outcomes and campus finances to the system. It must approve each school’s plan.

“Gov. Wolf is supportive of this proposal,” said Meg Snead, secretary of policy and planning and the governor’s designate to the system board.

She said the change “establishes a student-focused approach, giving students and families more time to consider tuition increases, allowing them to make more informed financial decisions. Shifting away from a one-size-fits-all approach makes sense …”

Since the system’s founding in 1983, the board of governors has set a systemwide tuition. This year’s base instate undergraduate rate of $7,716 is less than half what the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State charge, in keeping with the 14 universities’ role as the state’s lowest-cost option for a university degree.

But total costs with room, board and other fees end up topping $20,000 at many schools, and a yearly price gap from that has developed, with Indiana University of Pennsylvania at the top at $25,405 and West Chester at the bottom at $18,906.

Population loss and declining numbers of high school graduates have hit the campuses hard, especially those in Western Pennsylvania.

Eight consecutive enrollment losses across the State System have dropped total enrollment from a peak of nearly 120,000 students in 2010 to roughly 98,000, a decline of 18 percent. That is the first time since 2001 that the total has dipped below 100,000.

Some individual campuses have seen even more drastic losses, including 70 percent at Cheyney; 52 percent at Mansfield; 44 percent at Edinboro; 33 percent at Clarion; and 25 percent at IUP, among others.

In addition to price moves, the State System agreed to rescind two policies that had governed financial aid. Officials including spokesman Kenn Marshall said that without those policies, schools will have more control over setting need- and merit-based aid but could not provide more specifics.

Campuses already set room, board and most other non-tuition fees and will continue to do so.

The 14 system universities are California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana, Slippery Rock, Bloomsburg, Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester.