SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — A proposal to set Penn State tuition for the upcoming academic year at a base aggregate rate of increase of 2.73 percent was made today during a meeting of the trustees’ Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning. This marks the University’s second-lowest percentage increase since 1967, and slightly lower than last year’s aggregate increase of 2.76 percent.
For the new budget year, the state’s general support appropriation will remain at $214.1 million for the fourth consecutive year. Despite level funding, and through active and ongoing cost-saving measures, University officials have worked to keep tuition charges as low as possible.
“We appreciate the Commonwealth’s support during a challenging fiscal climate in Pennsylvania. Again this year, we have made a concerted effort to avoid unnecessary expenditures and minimize increases without sacrificing quality,” Penn State President Eric Barron said. “It is our hope that because Penn State is educating and preparing our brightest students for success through our role as Pennsylvania’s land-grant institution, our state government will continue to recognize and promote the shared value of our partnership.”
For lower-division and most upper-division Pennsylvania resident and nonresident students attending the University Park campus, the tuition increase will be 2.99 percent, or from $241 to $450 per semester, respectively. At all undergraduate campuses, upper-division rates apply to students who have accumulated 59.1 credits or more.
Upper-division students studying business and science, earth and mineral sciences, engineering, and information sciences and technology, or STEM fields, will see an increase of 5.16 percent, or $475 per semester, among resident students and 4.27 percent, or $668 per semester, for non-Pennsylvania residents.
The following tuition rate increases have been proposed at the following campuses:
— Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Mont Alto, New Kensington and Wilkes-Barre: a 1.20 percent increase (or a range of $75-122 per semester), for most Pennsylvania resident and nonresident undergraduate students. Upper-division undergraduate students at these campuses studying business, science, earth and mineral sciences, engineering and information sciences and technology will see no increase.
— Rates for students at Penn State Shenango will remain the same for the third consecutive year.
— Penn State Brandywine, Hazleton, Lehigh Valley, Schuylkill, Worthington Scranton and York: most students will see an increase of 2.40 percent, (or between $153 and $246 per semester). Upper-division undergraduate students at these campuses studying business and STEM fields also will see no tuition increase.
— Abington, Altoona, Berks, Erie and Harrisburg: lower-division Pennsylvania and nonresident students face an increase of 2.40 percent per semester (a range of $153-$245 per semester), depending on field of study and any additional course-related fees required. Upper-division undergraduates at these campuses will note a range of increases per semester from 2.40 percent to 5.13 percent, (or $165-$385), depending on state of residency, field of study and associated fees.
— A 3.97 percent increase in tuition is proposed for Penn State Dickinson School of Law students at both University Park and Carlisle.
— Penn State Hershey non-Pennsylvania medical students will not see a change in tuition, while resident student tuition will rise by 5.50 percent, or $1,215 per semester. Other graduate students at the campus will receive a 2.99 percent increase (or $273-$289) based on year of admission.
All graduate students at University Park will see a tuition increase of 2.99 percent. Other in-state graduate students at all campuses except Penn State Great Valley also will see a tuition increase of 2.99 percent. Nonresident graduate student tuition will increase 2.40 percent. All Penn State Great Valley student tuition rates will increase 2.40 percent, regardless of resident status.
At all campuses, the information technology fee will increase $4 a semester, to $252. The student activities fee and student facilities fee will most commonly rise by $6 to $93 per semester, and by $4, to $120 per semester, respectively.
A new international student fee of $500 per semester, for new undergraduate students, will help offset additional institutional costs for comprehensive academic and student support services unique to international students. International undergraduate students who enrolled during the 2013-14 academic year will be assessed a $250-per-semseter fee for the remainder of their continuous enrollment at the University.
A complete listing of Penn State’s tuition rate schedules and fees can be found at http://www.tuition.psu.edu.
