Pitt in- state tuition rises by 2.75%

State system, however, approves tuition freeze

Tuition for University of Pittsburgh students will increase in the upcoming school year.

But the 14 schools in the state university system — for the first time in more than 20 years — have approved a tuition freeze.

For in- state undergraduate students at Pitt, annual tuition will rise by 2.75%, increasing it to $ 18,628. Out- of- state undergrads will see a 5% hike, bringing annual tuition to $ 32,656.

The executive committee of the university’s board of trustees voted on the new rates Wednesday while approving the 2020 operating budget estimated at $ 2.4 billion and a capital budget estimated at $ 641 million.

The state increased Pitt’s funding by 2% this year, Pitt’s Chief Financial Officer Hari Sastry said.

“Access and affordability is obviously a big focus,” Mr. Sastry said. “We were fortunate to get support from the commonwealth to be able to provide a discounted rate for in- state students.”

Contributing to the tuition increase was an estimated $ 130 million investment in student financial aid, which Mr. Sastry said will contribute to “the largest restructuring of financial aid that we’ve ever had at Pitt.”

At a meeting in Harrisburg on Wednesday, the State System of Higher Education board of governors voted unanimously to keep annual in- state tuition flat at about $ 7,700. Nearly 90% of the system’s students are from Pennsylvania.

Out- of- state tuition is set by individual campuses. Those students currently pay $ 11,574 to $ 19,290.

The only other tuition freeze in the system’s 36- year history was for the 1998- 99 school year, when the cost for in- state students was less than half what it is today.

Chancellor Dan Greenstein recommended the freeze, referring to the impact of higher costs on students and the message that flat tuition would send state lawmakers.

The decision leaves a projected budget hole of about $ 63 million that the system will have to address.

“The universities are aware that this budget gap cannot be fully

funded by students,” Chairwoman Cindy Shapira told the board before the vote. “I know everyone is working very hard to reduce their cost structures through further implementation of activities that will reduce expenses and avoid costs to the extent possible.”

The universities, which include Slippery Rock, California, Edinboro, Indiana and Clarion, have seen total enrollment fall over the past eight years from about 112,000 to just over 90,000.

State Sen. Judy Schwank, D- Berks, a board member, called the tuition freeze a “dramatic move” that sends a message to other lawmakers. She urged the board to push lawmakers for more support.

“This work has to start now, and we have to make the case that we are working to make this system the right system, the one that will bring Pennsylvania into the future,” Ms. Schwank said.

The state government’s support for the system is rising by about 2% this year, to $ 477 million. The state paid 53% of the system’s costs in 1993, a figure that has since fallen to 27%.

Next year, the system board will let its member schools set multi- year tuition, although the board will get the final say.

A t P i t t , C h a n c e l l o r Patrick Gallagher said the university devoted part of its endowment to financial aid.

“We’ve been doing a lot to try to really put the investments we have to work for students,” Mr. Gallagher said.

He said the state’s funding increase of 3% last year did not cover the cost of last year’s undergraduate tuition freeze. As a result, the costs were added into this year’s budget.

Tuition rates for Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and the School of Computing and Information have a higher increase to keep up with the costs of high- tech equipment.

For Pitt’s regional campuses, tuition rates will increase by 2% for both instate and out- of- state undergraduate students.

Pitt, like Penn State University, Temple University and Lincoln University, is a state- related school that receives some aid from the state.

On Tuesday, Temple’s board of trustees voted to freeze tuition fees for instate undergraduate students at about $ 16,000.

The board at Penn State, which froze tuition for Pennsylvania residents last year, meets July 18- 19.