HARRISBURG, Pa. — For the first time in its 38-year history, the Board of Governors for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education froze basic tuition for in-state students for a second consecutive year, the board said Wednesday in a press release.
The tuition freeze comes despite mounting financial challenges for the system brought on in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, the board said.
The board's decision means basic in-state tuition for undergraduate students at the state's 14 universities will remain at $7,716 for the 2020-21 academic year.
The system's $478 technology fee for students will also remain in place, the board said.
The vote to freeze tuition and the technology fee was unanimous, according to the board.
“We are united in believing that even under these historic, extraordinary circumstances, the State System must maintain its affordability and not pass the burden of these times onto our students,” said Cindy Shapira, chair of the Board of Governors. “While the coronavirus has impacted so much of our society and economy, what remains the same is our mission to provide quality, affordable, accessible public higher education.”
Prior to last year, only once – the 1998-99 academic year – did the Board approved a year-to-year tuition freeze. It has never before frozen tuition for two consecutive years.
“Pennsylvania will recover from this pandemic, and our outstanding universities will have a role in leading the recovery,” Chancellor Dan Greenstein said. “To be a leader will take courage, and the Board showed that kind of courage today by choosing to be on the side of students and affordability.
"We will be here to educate the business, healthcare, education, and community leaders of tomorrow by maintaining our place as the affordable higher education option for students of the Commonwealth.”
