Temple to raise tuition 5.9%

Temple University will increase tuition 5.9 percent for the forthcoming academic year to pay for growing costs and offset the shrinking percentage of dollars coming from the state, officials said Thursday.

Most Temple undergraduates will see an annual increase of $660, to $11,834, for instate students and a hike of $1,208, to $21,662, for out-of-state students, officials said. Fees for full-time students will remain at $295 a semester.

Anthony Wagner, Temple's chief financial officer, said the tuition increase reflects rising compensation-related costs for unionized employees, "stuff that we'd agreed to in collective-bargaining agreements."

The tuition hike will fund a "discretionary increase" of $5 million to hire faculty and advisers to accommodate the university's historically high enrollment, which is about 37,000, Wagner said.

The state is providing $178.5 million - about 17 percent of the university's $1.074 billion budget, Wagner said. Of that amount, about $8 million is a one-time "stimulus" boost.

Wagner, also senior vice president and treasurer, said state funding has been shrinking since the early part of the decade, when it was $189 million.

"Right now, tuition is the only way to come up with those dollars," Wagner said.

Last year, Temple increased tuition by 2.9 percent, which was smaller than the hikes at the state-related Pennsylvania State University and University of Pittsburgh, and the 14 universities in the State System of Higher Education, including West Chester and Cheyney.

Wagner noted that Temple's budget will include an increase of $7 million, to a total of $75 million, for internal financial aid for students.

The tuition increase follows an announced 4.5 percent increase in room and board for students.