No tuition increase for Pa. students at PSU
For the first time in nearly 50 years, in-state students attending Pennsylvania State University will face no tuition increase for the next academic year.
For the first time in nearly 50 years, in-state students attending Pennsylvania State University will face no tuition increase for the next academic year.
Reversing a proposal announced Thursday that would have raised tuition 2.7 percent, or $450, for in-state students attending the main campus, the university's board of trustees on Friday unanimously approved the tuition freeze.
The break will require the board to cut as much as $17 million from the annual budget. The tuition break applies to Pennsylvania residents attending all of the university's 19 undergraduate campuses.
"We have a historic 49-year date for freezing tuition for Pennsylvania residents," Penn State president Eric Barron said in announcing the plan to trustees, who met at the university's Beaver campus in Western Pennsylvania.
In-state freshmen and sophomores at the State College campus will pay $16,572 in tuition, the same as last year. Their total price tag will exceed $27,600, including room and board, which did go up 3.89 percent. Tuition price tags vary for upperclassmen based on their majors.
Most out-of-state students will see a tuition increase - 2.99 percent for those at the main campus and a range from zero to 2.4 percent at branches.
Nearly three-quarters of Penn State students are Pennsylvania residents.
Penn State is the only state or state-related university in Pennsylvania to freeze tuition for all in-state students this year. Temple approved a 2.8 percent, or $392, increase this week, raising tuition to $14,398. The University of Pittsburgh on Friday raised tuition 2.5 percent for in-state students at its main campus and froze it for those at regional campuses. Tuition at Pitt varies by major; many students will pay $17,292 next year, up about $420.
Earlier this month, the 14-school State System of Higher Education, including West Chester and Cheyney Universities, increased tuition 3.5 percent, or about $240, to $7,060.
Barron unveiled the freeze following a lengthy private session of the trustees where the tuition proposal was discussed. He described the discussion as "very heartfelt," and said both his team and board members were grappling with a way to freeze tuition and make education more affordable for students.
"We had a thorough discussion about risk, and decided this was, in fact, something we could do, and it would be supported by the board," he said. The risk, he said, is that the university must find the cuts to balance its $4.9 billion budget.
Earlier this year, Barron had pledged to freeze tuition if Gov. Wolf's plan to raise state funding to the university by 11 percent was approved. The legislature has yet to vote on a budget; Republican lawmakers have proposed a much smaller funding increase, around 3 percent. Penn State's budget assumes a 3 percent increase in state funding.
Barron said the effort to control costs won't stop with this budget.
"As the cost of a public university degree continues to rise nationwide in the face of stagnant and declining state support," he said in a statement after the vote, "it is incumbent upon us to do all that we can to keep a Penn State degree within reach of every qualified Pennsylvanian."
Also, trustees approved a 3 percent, or $24,000, lump-sum merit raise for Barron. His base salary will remain at $800,000. Five top executives also will get salary bumps averaging 2.9 percent.
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