Inflation, Pandemic Among Reasons for Penn State Tuition Increase of Up to 6%

The cost of education is rising for thousands of Penn State students across the state of Pennsylvania.

Penn State University announced in a newsletter Thursday that the school board will be increasing tuition for the 2022-2023 school year. The board met Friday at Penn State York to confirm the increase.

The university says "unprecedented inflationary costs," stagnant funding from the state, tuition freezes, lower revenues and lower enrollment partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic are some of the reasons for the increase.

"As Penn State’s enrollment has increased through the years, the University’s state funding has not grown with it," the university said in a post their website.

“We understand the impact of a tuition increase on our students and families, and we do not take the decision to raise tuition lightly. Unfortunately, the circumstances of our current budget made these increases necessary in order to maintain the highest-quality educational experiences for our students," Neeli Bendapudi, the university president said in the news release.

He continued, "However, consistent with Penn State’s land-grant mission, we have worked to alleviate the effects as much as possible by providing additional aid to support students from lower- and middle-income families.”

Students that come from households with an annual income of $75,000 or less and have filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid will not be charged an increase, the university said.

Rate Increase:

• Pennsylvania Residents University Park - 5%
• Pennsylvania Residents Commonwealth Campuses - 2%
• Non-Resident Undergraduates University Park - 6%
• Non-Resident Undergraduates, Commonwealth Campuses - 3%
• World Campus Undergraduates - 5%
• All Graduate and Professional Students (regardless of campus) - 6%

Tuition across the Penn State system varies by campus, the current cost for an undergraduate Pennsylvania resident is $18,898 at University Park and $15,586 at other commonwealth campuses.

Classes for the fall session begin in August.

For more information on tuition and fees you can visit the universities admissions tuition site.