Increase lowest in decade
By Yasmin Tadjdeh | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania State University increased its tuition at the lowest rate in 10 years despite state funding cuts.
Tuition for resident students at the University Park campus will increase by 4.9 percent, or $356, with lower percentages for non-resident students at University Park and both resident and non-resident students at the school’s variety of satellite campuses.
Based on a projected enrollment of at least 26,795 in-state students at University Park, Penn State is expected to receive about $9.5 million from the tuition hike. School officials said they did not anticipate a decrease in enrollment following the increase in tuition.
The 4.9 percent tuition hike, approved by the university’s Board of Trustees on Friday, was the lowest in 10 years; the highest increase of nearly 17 percent occurred during the 2004-2005 school year. During the past six years, the tuition increases fell within the 5 percent to 7 percent range.
“The minimal tuition increase shows great commitment on their part” to students, said state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, chairman of the state Senate Appropriations Committee, which passed the state budget. His district also includes Penn State's main campus.
Penn State, like the other three state-related universities — Pittsburgh, or Pitt; Temple and Lincoln—took a 19 percent cut in state funding this year from the Legislature. The budget reductions left Penn State out $63 million this year.
All the universities, with the exception of Lincoln — which has yet to make a decision — have raised tuition. Students have taken the brunt of the budget cuts, with tuition increases offsetting nearly the entire state spending cut at some of the universities.
“We are determined that our students and their families will not bear the full burden of the appropriation cuts … The cost-cutting measures we're taking involve significant sacrifice on the part of the University community as a whole,” said Penn State University President Graham Spanier in a statement.
Cost-saving measures this year include enacting energy-saving initiatives, reducing construction, laying off employees and eliminating salary increases for non-union faculty and non-union staff members, said Lisa Powers, university spokeswoman.
