Updated Friday, July 21, 2023
Penn State will raise tuition each of the next two years for students at the University Park campus while keeping rates flat for in-state undergraduates at the Commonwealth Campuses.
The Board of Trustees voted 26-5 to approve the tuition rates along with budgets for 2023-24 and 2024-25 during its meeting on Friday afternoon at Penn State Behrend in Erie. Alumni-elected trustees Ted Brown, Alvin de Levie, Barry Fenchak, Anthony Lubrano and Jay Paterno — each of whom has opposed tuition increases — voted no. Cynthia Adams Dunn, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, abstained.
The board’s Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning voted on Thursday to recommend approving the tuition rates, with only Lubrano dissenting.
Tuition will increase by 2% for in-state students and 4% for out-of-state students at University Park for each of the next two years.
The approximately 18,000 Pennsylvania resident undergraduate students at the Commonwealth Campuses, representing about 43% of the university’s in-state undergrad population, will see no increase either year. Out-of-state undergraduates and in-state graduate students at the Commonwealth Campuses will have a 1% increase and out-of-state graduate students will see a 2% hike.
Operating under a new budgeting model, this marks the first time that the university is setting its tuition and budget for two fiscal years at the same time.
“We do want our students to know what they’re going to pay for tuition, room, board and fees before they decide to come to Penn State,” Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for finance and business said.
For Pennsylvania resident, lower division students (freshmen and sophomores) at University Park, the increase in 2023-24 will be $386 for a total academic year tuition of $19,672. In 2024-25, the bump is $394 to bring tuition for the fall and spring semesters to $20,066.
Non-resident freshmen and sophomores will see an increase of $1,524 for an academic year tuition of $39,626 in 2023-24, and $1,586 for a yearly tuition of $41,212 in 2024-25.
Junior and senior tuition rates vary based on program of study. Over the next two years, the university plans to phase business and engineering majors into the same differential as nursing, which is $164 per semester higher than all other academic colleges. The change is expected to result in an additional $18 million in revenue.
Student fees will increase from $550 per year to $562 in 23-24 and 578 in 24-25 at University Park.
Tuition varies by location for the 19 Commonwealth Campuses. For lower-division undergraduates, rates ranging from $13,568 per year at Shenango to $15,388 at Altoona Berks, Erie and Harrisburg will remain steady through 2024-25.
Out-of-state undergrads will see increases between $226 and $258 in 2023-24 and $228 and $262 in 2024-25.
Most Commonwealth Campus student fees will increase by $68 over the next two years.
World Campus tuition also will increase by 1%, or $150 and $152 per year in 23-24 and 24-25, respectively.
A per credit charge also will be added for students taking more than 19 credits in a semester. The standard undergraduate course load for a semester is 15 credits.
Thorndike noted that a a one-time $14 million investment for income-based Access Grants last year will now be permanently recurring in student financial aid. The university has a total of about $300 million budgeted for student aid each of the next two years.
“When setting our tuition schedules, we are keenly aware that these decisions have real-world impacts on our students and families,” Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said. “I am very pleased that there will be no tuition increase for in-state undergraduates at our Commonwealth Campuses for the next two academic years. For most students we’ve been able to hold tuition increases below the rate of inflation and only to the minimum required to meet our own rising costs, and to continue providing our students the highest-quality experiences inside and outside of the classroom.”
University leaders noted that Pennsylvania’s appropriation to Penn State is about $5,750 per resident undergraduate student, which is the lowest of the four state-related university. With the General Assembly and Gov. Josh Shapiro still at an impasse on the state budget three weeks after the June 30 deadline and no movement expected until September, the university plans to direct other resources to cover in-state tuition costs until Penn State’s appropriation from the commonwealth is approved.
As a result, a planned 3% merit-based employee salary increase and a compensation modernization initiative will be put on hold until the state budget situation is resolved.
“We are in continued conversations with the legislature, and we remain hopeful that state leaders will pass our funding bill with the increase that Gov. Shapiro has proposed, as this funding is vital to students and families across Pennsylvania,” Bendapudi said. “Despite not knowing what our appropriation will be, University operations must be maintained, which is why we are moving forward with our budget as planned — with the caveat that some critical steps must wait so that we can meet our commitment to our Pennsylvania resident students.”
The tuition increases come as the university works toward a balanced budget after projecting a $140 million operating deficit for 2022-23. That has been reduced to $63 million before Penn State closes the books on the last fiscal year due to a hiring freeze, investment income, a one-time state grant, deferred spending and renegotiated equipment and service contracts.
Deficits are expected to shrink each of the next two years, putting the university on track for a balanced budget for 2025-26, a charge given to Bendapudi by the board last year.
“I want to thank the entire Penn State community for its efforts as we’ve worked to respond to budget challenges,” Bendapudi said. “Our deficit today is lower than it was at this time last year, and we are forecasting progressively smaller deficits for each of the next two fiscal years. This work is not finished, but I am encouraged by what we have achieved thus far, and I am pleased to report that we remain on track for a balanced budget by fiscal year 2025-26.”
ROOM AND BOARD RATES
The board approved room and board rates for 2023-24 in February, when the university has historically set those costs for the following year. With the new two-year fiscal planning model, room and board is being moved to July as well.
On Thursday, the committee recommended rates for 2024-25 as part of the budget plan. At University Park, the standard room and board rate — a traditional double room and mid-level meal plan would increase by 3.21%, or $209 per semester. to $6,724 per semester. That includes a 3% room rate increase and a 3.5% increase for meal plans.
Commonwealth Campus rates vary by location, with increases ranging from 1.39% for a semester total of $6,470 to 2.15% for total of $6,564.
All proposed room and board rates for 2024-25 can be viewed here. The rates for 2023-24 are here.
