A committee of the State System of Higher Education’s board of governors Wednesday endorsed what arguably is the largest price and financial aid overhaul in the university system’s history, setting up a vote by the full board Thursday.
Letting Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities develop their own multi-year pricing plans for use starting in fall 2020 is a major shift. The board since 1983 has set a system tuition in Harrisburg that most campuses still follow. It is $7,716 this year for in-state undergraduates.
A growing number of individual experiments have been approved the last five years, letting some campuses modify prices, but Wednesday’s unanimous vote by the University Success committee, meeting in Harrisburg, endorses going much further. If approved Thursday, the State System board would set rates only for campuses that do not want to develop their own policies.
The 14 campuses face sharply different financial realities and are in parts of the state where the economy and student markets vary widely. Backers say those schools need flexibility to set regional prices that can sustain operations without driving students away with higher costs.
But for many months, system officials indicated they wanted more analysis and more context before allowing such a complicated change to go forward, said board chair Cynthia Shapira.
“Now, we’re at that place,” she said Wednesday.
The system with 98,000 students has been in a redesign since 2017, amid enrollment losses and financial woes.
If approved, the switch to campus-based pricing would likely occur over time, given complexities involved in planning, said Sharon Minnich, vice chancellor for administration and finance.
“There will be early adapters and there will be some [that are] phased in over time,” she said.
Instead of approving tuition in July for the upcoming school year, the universities would set that year’s rate by April 30, and identify a tentative price for the following year. The system would have to approve those plans, and room, board and most other fees would continue to be set by the campuses.
The 14 system universities include: California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana, Slippery Rock, Bloomsburg, Cheyney, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @Bschackner
First Published: April 3, 2019, 10:50 p.m.
