Penn State proposes tuition freeze, only the second in more than 50 years
The full board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation at a meeting Friday afternoon at the university's Reading campus. Out-of-state students, about 30 percent of the student body, would see tuition rise 3.54 percent.
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The finance committee of Pennsylvania State University's board of trustees on Thursday endorsed a proposal by president Eric Barron to freeze tuition for in-state residents for 2018-19.
It would be only the second university-wide tuition freeze in more than 50 years at Pennsylvania's flagship university. The school last froze tuition in 2015-16.
The full board is scheduled to vote on the recommendation at a meeting Friday afternoon at the university's Reading campus. Out-of-state students, about 30 percent of the student body, would see tuition rise 3.54 percent.
In-state freshmen and sophomores currently pay $17,416 annually on the main campus; out-of-state students, $32,644.
The student activity and facilities fee would rise 3.3 percent, or $9, at the State College campus under the plan.
"Access and affordability are top priorities at Penn State," Barron said in a statement. "We must do all that we can to keep the door to a Penn State education open to and within financial reach of the best and brightest students across the commonwealth."
Pressure from legislators had been building in recent weeks for Pennsylvania's 14 state universities and four state-related universities, including Penn State, to freeze tuition, given the state's funding boost for the schools this year. State-related universities got a 3 percent increase, while those in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education received a 3.3 percent increase.
Barron announced last month that he would propose a freeze for in-state students, given the state's $7.5 million funding increase.
The University of Pittsburgh voted this week to freeze tuition. But Temple University raised tuition 2 percent and the 14 state universities nearly 3 percent. Lincoln, also state-related, increased tuition 2.5 percent over last year for incoming freshmen (current students do not pay that, as they are guaranteed the same tuition price all four years).
The freeze will be nothing new for some of Penn State's branch campuses, which have kept costs steady in recent years. Tuition has been frozen at eight of the 19 Commonwealth Campuses — Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, and Wilkes-Barre — for the last three years.