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For sixth straight year, Pa. state university system freezes tuition

The vote maintains in-state undergraduate tuition at $7,716 per year. Officials credited a boost in state funding in the new budget deal.

In-state undergraduate tuition at PASSHE universities -- which include West Chester University -- will remain at $7.716 next year for the seventh year in a row.
In-state undergraduate tuition at PASSHE universities -- which include West Chester University -- will remain at $7.716 next year for the seventh year in a row.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education voted Wednesday to again freeze in-state tuition rates, crediting a boost in state funding in the budget deal approved last week.

The vote maintains in-state undergraduate tuition at $7,716 a year — the same as it has been since 2018-2019, officials said.

At a board meeting Wednesday morning, Cynthia Shapira, chair of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors, said increased state funding had allowed the system to hold tuition flat at its 10 universities. The budget signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro last week included a $35.1 million, or 6%, increase for PASSHE — just shy of the 6.5% increase the system had sought.

But Shapira also noted longer-term investment in the state system. “We will have seen our funding increase by one-third, just in the past five years,” Shapira said. “That is just truly remarkable.” She said lawmakers view the system as not only delivering “an affordable, high-quality education,” but also as a way to “fill high-demand roles that will keep our economy moving.”

The budget deal includes a new scholarship program, Grow Pennsylvania, that will allow PASSHE to charge freshmen out-of-state students in-state tuition if they enroll in an approved program and commit to working in Pennsylvania after graduation.

State system Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said Wednesday that the scholarship, which will start in 2025-26, will “align with the most pressing workforce needs of the state.” He cited teaching and nursing as two such fields.

In-state undergraduate students make up nearly 90% of the 82,688-student PASSHE system. Each of the system’s schools sets its own out-of-state tuition rate, as well as in-state graduate tuition rates.

Schools also have set their own room, board and mandatory fees — excluding technology fees, which individual schools will begin to set in fall 2025.

The PASSHE schools are Cheyney, West Chester, Shippensburg, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Millersville, Indiana, Slippery Rock, Commonwealth, and PennWest Universities.