Pennsylvania state universities to freeze tuition for fourth consecutive year

For the fourth straight year, in-state students who attend universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education will not face an increase in tuition under a recommendation approved by its board of governors Thursday.

In-state students, who make up the vast majority of the system’s 88,651 students, will pay $7,716 in tuition and a $478 technology fee. Out-of-state tuition is set by the individual campuses. The technology fee for out-of-state students is $728.

The tuition rates are for all universities in the system, including the six that will merge into two new entities as of July 1 — Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield as well as California, Clarion, and Edinboro — and the eight others -- West Chester, Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, Kutztown, Millersville, and Indiana.

» READ MORE: Merger of six Pennsylvania state universities gets OK, the biggest change in the system’s history

“I am not recommending a tuition fee increase this year because the students we serve are struggling already with the net price of attending our universities, which is too high,” chancellor Daniel Greenstein told the board of governors before their vote.

The average net price of attendance for the first time in at least a decade decreased in 2019-20 — the first year of the tuition freeze — to $18,250 for full-time, in-state undergraduates. Net price refers to the cost of tuition, fees, room and board, books, and supplies, minus the average financial aid that students receive.

But Greenstein made it clear that the system may have to reverse course and impose a small increase if it doesn’t get the state funding it asked for, which has been included in Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed budget. The funding request includes a 15% boost in the system’s basic funding to $550 million, an additional $200 million allocation for student financial aid, and $75 million in funds to continue the integration of the merged universities.

» READ MORE: Pa. state universities will seek a 15% boost in funding, plus more money for student aid

State Rep. Brad Roae (R., Erie), a board member, said given the system’s efficiency efforts, including the mergers, the sale of excess property, and staff cuts to adjust to a more than 25% enrollment decline over the last 12 years. state legislators may be inclined to provide the funding boost.

“I can’t guarantee anything, but I think that there is a pretty good chance there is going to be a good budget year as far as what the system is hoping to receive,” he said.

Several university presidents warned that they have already cut their schools to the bone and can’t get by with less revenue. Kutztown has slashed its workforce by about 22% and its operating budget by more than 30% while pumping millions into student financial aid, its president, Kenneth S. Hawkinson, told the board.

“We’re at the point where there’s nothing else really left to cut,” he said. “If you want us to be able to continue to provide institutional financial aid and all these …services, you just have to give us more resources to do it.”

Even with four years of a tuition freeze, the state system remains one of the nation’s most expensive. The state ranks 46th in investment per student at state-owned, four-year universities, and state funding has declined 35%, or $252 million, over the last couple of decades when adjusted for inflation, system officials said.

Nick Marcil, a West Chester graduate student who addressed the board, warned against an increase and in fact said the system should lower tuition and fees and ultimately eliminate them.

“New Mexico just made their community colleges and public four-year colleges tuition-free,” Marcil said, referring to legislation the governor of that state signed in May. “Pennsylvania could do the same and be a trailblazer for the country.”

The board also voted to cover about $20 million in loans that the system made to Mansfield University over the last three years so that it won’t be a burden on the merger with Bloomsburg and Lock Haven. The system plans to use money it is saving through its decision last year to borrow $825 million and pay 75% of its financial obligations over the next 30 years to the State Employees Retirement System (SERS) in a one-time advance payment. That decision is expected to result in an estimated $280 million cash influx to the system over the next three decades.

Also at the meeting, Jamie Martin, outgoing president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, warned that faculty morale on some campuses has reached an all-time low, as the system cuts positions and merges universities.

At a recent faculty gathering, she said, she asked if anyone could report positive news from their campuses. None could.

“If I tried to find some good news,” she said one told her, “I would weep.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.