The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is raising tuition for its 10 state universities, including Commonwealth University - Lock Haven, for the first time in eight years, but could scale back the tuition hike or eliminate it completely if the state follows through with an extra $40 million in funding.
Currently, tuition at the universities is set to increase by $278 to $7,994 a year for the 2025-26 school year.
Despite the increase, Millersville University President Daniel Wubah said the state universities are still very affordable.
“We’ve kept the prices as low as possible for students all this time, and this current increase that is being proposed, we are targeting in such a way that, depending on how much the state gives us, it will not cause any hardship to the students,” Wubah said.
According to the state system’s board of governors, tuition could drop back down to the $7,716 rate, or see a partial reduction, if the state increases its annual appropriation by 6.5% to $661 million.
State system spokesperson Kevin Hensil said the appropriation increase was included in the $50.6 billion budget passed by House Democrats earlier this week and backed by Gov. Josh Shapiro. Budget negotiations have since moved to the Republican-led Senate.
“This flexible approach to tuition setting has never been done before in PASSHE,” the state system said in a news release Wednesday morning.
PASSHE said the new approach offers some clarity to students, who will receive tuition bills next week as lawmakers in Harrisburg continue to haggle over the budget, which was due June 30.
State universities still ‘good value’
“We hope this action gives those involved in state budget negotiations the time and flexibility they need to secure as much as possible for our students, while allowing students and our universities to prepare for the fall semester,” Cynthia Shapira, chair of the state system board of governors, said in the news release.
Whether students would be refunded or credited for any overcharges following a tuition reset would be determined after the budget passes, Hensil said.
If tuition is lowered by the state system after Millersville University’s tuition bills are sent out Monday, Wubah said any overpayment likely would be credited toward students’ future tuition bills.
Even if the tuition hike remains, Wubah said, tuition is much lower than it would be if it were keeping pace with inflation or increases by nearby universities. He pointed to Temple University’s 3.6% tuition increase — the same rate of increase set by PASSHE this year – which brings the Philadelphia institution’s per-semester tuition cost to $9,804, or $19,608 annually.
State system tuition, “even with this increase, is still a very good value, and it’s among the lowest in the commonwealth,” Wubah said.
Wubah credited annual state appropriations for helping the state system keep tuition flat for seven consecutive years and said increases in funding to state universities “goes straight to the students.”
Whether tuition will continue to increase depends on the level of support the state system receives from the Legislature, Wubah said.
Millersville University only recently rejoined the state system’s flat-rate tuition model, changing from a per-credit model for the 2024-25 school year. Previously, the university charged students between $7,656 and $11,484 annually for taking 12 to 18 credits per semester.