Total annual costs at Penn to exceed $80,000 for the first time

Tuition, fees, and room and board at the University of Pennsylvania will exceed $80,000 for the first time under a plan endorsed by the board of trustees Thursday.

Total costs for the 2022-23 academic year are set to rise 2.9%, or $2,326 to $81,340, up from $79,014 in the current year. That includes a total of $56,212 for tuition, $7,240 for fees, $11,754 for housing, and $6,134 for dining.

The increases are necessary to cover rising costs in faculty, an expansion in interdisciplinary academic programs, financial aid, and inflationary costs, the university said. Penn also said it was increasing the university’s financial aid budget to $288 million to help offset the higher costs for families in need.

“This year, our aid budget is growing at a rate triple that of charges, ensuring that we are able to fulfill our commitment to meet a student’s demonstrated need each year, even as costs increase,” senior executive vice president Craig Carnaroli said in a statement.

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Penn said 44% of its undergraduates receive grant-based financial aid packages, with an average of $60,506, and 80% of those who get aid graduate debt-free, compared with 58% in 2008.

Penn last year raised tuition 2.8%, which it touted as the lowest increase since the 1960s. In the prior two years, tuition rose 3.9%.

Trevor C. Lewis, vice president of budget planning and analysis, said the university is projecting charges will rise 3.5% in subsequent years. But this year, the university wanted to keep charges lower, given that Penn’s costs were at the top of Ivy League universities for 2021-22.

“We wanted to get under what we thought inflation would be,” he said.