Board Committee Proposes Tuition Increase

Penn State’s Board of Trustees will vote on a tuition increase of 2.29 percent for Pennsylvania resident undergraduate students at University Park and an aggregate increase of 1.76 percent across all campuses for 2016-17.

The board’s committee on finance, business and capital planning approved Thursday morning sending the proposal to the full board at Friday’s meeting.

The increase for in-state undergraduate students is the first since 2014-15. In 2015-16 Pennsylvania students saw a tuition freeze.

Bill Oldsey was the only trustee on the seven-member committee to vote against the proposal.

“I am fundamentally opposed to increasing in-state tuition,” Oldsey said during the committee meeting at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. “I was comfortable and proud of the decision we made last year. I think we are going backward this year. I wish our state appropriation was larger than it is… but I don’t think to continue to increase undergrad tuition is the answer.”

For in-state students at University Park, the increase results in an additional $190 per semester. For out of-state undergraduate students at University Park, a 3.39 percent increase will result in an additional $515 per semester.

Eight of Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses will see no in-state increase, while others will see increases ranging from 1.25 to 1.54 percent. Tuition at Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango and Wilkes-Barre will remain flat.

The aggregate 1.76 percent base tuition increase is the lowest since 1967, according to the university.

University Budget Officer Rachel Smith said the university went into its initial budget planning with the goal of no tuition increase for in-state students. However, when it became clear Penn State would not receive sufficient appropriations from the Commonwealth to accomplish that, the priority became to keep tuition increases as low as possible.

The information technology fee will remain frozen at $252 per semester. The student activities fee will increase by $1 or $2 depending on campus — at University Park it will increase by $1 per semester to $96. The student facilities fee will rise by $2 at most campuses, including University Park, bringing the fee there to $126 per semester.

Tuition and fees will make up 32.8 percent of the proposed $5.147 billion operating budget also approved by the committee on Thursday.

Penn State Hershey Medical Center revenues will comprise 35.1 percent of the budget, the first time that they have exceeded tuition revenue in the budget,  Smith said.

Commonwealth appropriations make up 5.9 percent of the budget.

Penn State received $230 million in general appropriation support from the Commonwealth in the 2016-17 Pennsylvania budget, a 2.5 percent increase, or $5.6 million, over last year.

“It remains our goal to ensure that all qualified Pennsylvanians from all walks of life have the opportunity to receive a world-class education at Penn State,” said Penn State President Eric Barron in a statement. “We are committed to access and affordability. This proposed operating budget balances the need to fund critical priorities and mandated cost increases while keeping the base tuition increase low or at zero for our Pennsylvania undergraduate students.”

The full board will vote on the tuition and budget at its regular meeting on Friday. Committee meetings continue through Thursday afternoon.