The board overseeing Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities would gain authority to allow individual campuses to permanently set in-state undergraduate tuition at levels different from the flat system-wide rate under a proposal facing a vote today.
A second policy change before the State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors, meeting in Harrisburg, would enable those universities to seek board permission to permanently raise or lower other program fees based on location, student demand, cost of delivery and other factors.
Since 2014, the board has authorized 28 such price experiments on a temporary basis. System leaders say they are necessary to help the schools react to market demands and ease strained finances.
But some of the experiments have sparked concerns about student costs, in particular pilot programs that have replaced the flat full-time tuition with per-credit pricing for undergraduates at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Millersville and Shippensburg universities.
Those concerns were evident Wednesday as the board’s finance, administration and facilities committee discussed and ultimately agreed to forward the proposals for full-board consideration today. Carrie Amann, a board representative for Gov. Tom Wolf, was among the members who raised impact on affordability and debt load as reasons for pause.
“We continue to be against the per-credit pricing,” Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott said after Wednesday’s meeting. “The governor is committed to keeping (system) schools affordable and accessible for Pennsylvanians.”
The base systemwide tuition set by the board is $7,238 a year for students taking 12 to 18 credits. Out-of-state students pay more, but specific rates vary by campus.
Kenn Marshall, a State System spokesman, said a number of the experiments are due to end and that the policy changes are needed to give the board mechanisms to enable the price policies to continue.
He said each university would have to apply to the board before any permanent price change would be made. The board would decide after receiving a recommendation from State System Chancellor Frank Brogan.
The 14 state-owned universities include: Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @BschacknerPG.
First Published: January 26, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
