The state House passed a bill on Tuesday that brings Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities a step closer to receiving long-awaited 2023-24 funding from the commonwealth.
But an amendment to the House bill that would require a tuition freeze for all students next academic year as part of the 7% general appropriation increase isn’t sitting well with Penn State administrators.
The university’s Board of Trustees voted in July on a two-year budget plan that freezes tuition for Pennsylvania resident students at the Commonwealth Campuses, while increasing rates at University Park by 2% for in-state students and 4% for out-of-state students for each of the two years. Out-of-state undergraduates and in-state graduate students at the Commonwealth Campuses will have a 1% increase and out-of-state graduate students will see a 2% hike.
“Penn State has already frozen tuition for all Pennsylvania resident undergraduate students at all of our Commonwealth Campuses for both this year and 2024-25,” a statement provided by the university said. “While we appreciate the Pennsylvania House approving increased funding for Penn State for the current fiscal year, we simply cannot support the amendment adopted by the House, which would undermine the Board of Trustees’ authority to set tuition and force the University to freeze tuition for all students in the next academic year, effectively resulting in a $54 million cut.”
The bill must still pass in the Senate, which is not due back in session until Nov. 13 and where its fate is uncertain.
More than a month after the deadline, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Pennsylvania primary budget bill into law in August, but the state House, which Democrats control by one vote, and the Republican controlled Senate have remained divided on more than $1 billion in other spending.
The bill authorizing appropriations for Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University, achieved the necessary two-thirds majority in the House with a 145-57 margin on Tuesday after previously failing in June as Republican legislators called for greater accountability from the schools. Earlier this week, the House passed a bill that would require the four non-state-owned universities to make more financial information publicly available under the commonwealth’s Right to Know law.
Under the funding bill passed by the House, Penn State would receive $259.8 million in general support, funds it uses to discount tuition for in-state students. The university has noted that its funding per Pennsylvania resident student is lowest among the state-relateds and among the lowest in the country.
“The appropriation level passed by the Pennsylvania House [on Tuesday] is still less funding than Penn State received in 2010-11, even without accounting for inflation,” the university statement said. “Our elected officials cannot expect Penn State to offer a world-class education to our students while providing state funding near the lowest level in the nation.”
Pennsylvania College of Technology, a Penn State subsidiary, would receive $28.6 million, Pitt would receive $162.26 million and Temple would get $169.4 million, all 7% increases. Lincoln would receive a 25% increase for a total of $19 million.
Similar to Penn State, Temple officials expressed displeasure with the tuition freeze requirement, according to the Temple News.
“At a time when Temple University is facing near-unprecedented rising costs and decreasing enrollment, honoring such a freeze would prove to be incredibly challenging,” the university wrote in a statement to the student newspaper. “We have historically worked to keep tuition as low as possible, and it is our promise that we would continue to do that. From a budget planning perspective, however, agreeing to freeze tuition nearly one year in advance would not be responsible.”
A Pitt spokesperson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “we look forward to continued conversations with both lawmakers and the administration as this process moves forward in the weeks ahead.”
