Tuition hike looms for Penn State students

LEHMAN, Pa. - After a historic tuition freeze, Pennsylvania State University's in-state students, whose costs are among the highest in the country for those attending public colleges, may once again see higher bills.

The Penn State board of trustees' committee on finance, business, and capital planning voted Thursday to recommend a 2.29 percent increase in the 2016-17 tuition for in-state students at the university's main campus.

At last July's board meeting, university president Eric Barron announced a tuition freeze for in-state students, the first time the university had done so in almost 50 years. However, the decision required the university to cut $17 million from the budget.

With the proposed increase, Penn State estimates that in-state students at the main campus in State College will pay about $190 more per semester. Universitywide, state residents composed about 73 percent of the student body last year.

On Thursday, alumnus William Oldsey, former executive vice president of McGraw-Hill Education, was the only trustee on the finance committee to oppose the increase.

"I don't think to continue to increase undergraduate tuition is the right answer," Oldsey said. "There are other alternatives. I wish we investigated them more before we finalized this budget."

Rachel Smith, the university budget officer, said additional revenue would come from the main campus' incoming freshman class, Penn State's largest ever at about 8,600.

But "the goal would be that the enrollment would trend back down," Smith said. "That revenue will not be a recurring source."

In a 2015 survey, the College Board listed the $28,434 annual price tag for tuition, fees, and boarding at the main campus as the fourth-highest in the country for public universities.

Across Penn State's 19 undergraduate Commonwealth Campuses, the committee will recommend a 1.76 percent base aggregate tuition increase for Pennsylvania undergrads, 3.17 percent for nonresidents.

In-state students at eight Commonwealth Campuses (Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, and Wilkes-Barre) will not see any increase.

If approved at Friday's full board meeting, tuition will make up almost 33 percent of a more than $5.1 billion university operating budget for 2016-17.

In 2015-16, the budget was $4.9 billion, and main campus freshmen and sophomores paid $16,572 in tuition. Tuition for juniors and seniors varies, depending on major.

The full board is scheduled to meet Friday, also at the Wilkes-Barre campus, for the first time since last week's release of documents regarding settlements with Jerry Sandusky's accusers.

emccarthy@phillynews.com @ErinMcPSU