Penn State will raise in-state tuition at University Park by 2% in 2025-26

Pennsylvania State University will raise tuition by 2% for in-state undergraduate and graduate students at University Park for 2025-26, based on a board of trustees vote Friday.

But resident undergraduate students at the university’s 19 Commonwealth Campuses won’t pay more. The plan holds tuition flat for those students for three consecutive years at the Commonwealth Campuses, which enroll about 43% of the university’s resident undergraduates.

Tuition rates for the coming academic year were set last July, as part of a two-year budget that also increased in-state undergraduate tuition at University Park by 2%.

The forthcoming bumps in tuition for most students — including a 4% increase at University Park for out-of-state undergraduate and graduate students — will largely be used to fund 3% salary increases for faculty and staff, said Sara Thorndike, the university’s senior vice president for finance and business.

The money from the increases will also go toward faculty and staff promotions, professional development, and a 4% increase for graduate assistant stipends, said Thorndike, who also noted during a committee meeting Thursday that Penn State had reduced its projected budget deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year from $45 million to $7 million.

The plan — which also includes $68 million for a new academic building at Penn State Abington — comes a week after Pennsylvania approved a budget that held funding for Penn State flat, along with Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh, which are also state-related universities.

The state increased funding for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which announced this week it would keep tuition flat for a sixth straight year.

In a presentation Thursday to the board’s committee on finance, business and capital planning, Thorndike noted that state appropriations for Penn State have remained “stagnant” since 2019 — excluding certain targeted increases, such as for the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

And Pennsylvania spends less per student at public universities — $7,327 in 2023 — than most other states nationally, Thorndike said. It spends even less on Penn State students specifically — $5,757 per student, above only Vermont and New Hampshire.

“We’re still at the bottom of the list, unfortunately,” she said.

The increases will bring freshman and sophomore tuition at University Park to $20,468 a year for residents, and $42,860 for nonresidents. (Rates are higher for juniors and seniors, depending on their academic program.)

Meanwhile, housing and food costs will increase by 3.21% at University Park, to $13,880 a year. The increases would be slightly less at the Commonwealth Campuses.

While the board of trustees approved the tuition increases as part of a $9.9 billion budget plan for the university, several voted no — saying Penn State shouldn’t burden in-state students with increases.

Thorndike noted the budget includes an increase in university-funded financial aid for students.

Going forward, Penn State, Temple and Pitt will be subject to performance-based funding, in which state money is allotted to schools based on certain criteria, such as graduation and retention rates. About 30 states use similar methods for funding universities, which have garnered mixed reviews.

Penn State will be represented on a new state council that will produce the criteria, Thorndike said.

“We are very supportive of this,” she said, describing the new funding mechanism as a change that would “restore the confidence of the General Assembly” to fund the university.