Tuition frozen for Pennsylvania state universities

Stacy Wescoe, BridgeTower Media//July 11, 2019

For the first time in 20 years tuition will stay the same for Pennsylvania’s 14 state-run universities.

The board of governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education voted Wednesday, a day earlier than was expected, to freeze full-time tuition at $7,716 for the 2019-2020 school year, the same rate as the 2018-2019 school year.

The last year tuition was not raised was in the 1998-1999 school year.

The freeze was enabled, in part, by a 2 percent increase in funding from the state that was included in the state’s latest budget.

Dave Pidgeon, director of public relations for the state system, told Lehigh Valley Business earlier this week that the board was concerned about keeping tuition affordable.

“Students and parents of students are looking for us to lead, and on their behalf, we’ve made the right choice,” said Cindy Shapira, chair of the board of governors. “Our mission is clear. These universities exist so that Pennsylvanians across all income levels can access quality higher education, and by holding the line on tuition, we are living up to that mission.”

Next year, as part of its ongoing redesign efforts, the State System will permit individual universities to set multiyear tuition strategies in an effort to improve competitiveness and affordability.

Nearly 100,000 students attend a state system university. They include Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities.

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