The state system that runs West Chester and 9 other Pa. colleges voted to raise tuition 4.3%
Tuition will rise to $8,338 annually, up $344 from $7,994. It is the largest percentage increase in a decade.
Students in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education will face a 4.3% tuition hike — the largest percentage increase in a decade — if the system does not get a boost in state funding.
PASSHE’s board of governors voted unanimously Thursday on the plan, which would enact the tuition increase if the system doesn’t receive a 5% or $31 million increase in its state appropriation, which currently stands at $625 million. Gov. Shapiro has proposed flat funding for the system, and budget negotiations are continuing.
Tuition will rise to $8,338 annually, up $344 from $7,994.
“We’re all disappointed to ... have to make this motion,” Board Chair Cynthia Shapira said. “We hope we do get the increase.”
The 10 universities in the system are: Cheyney, West Chester, Commonwealth, East Stroudsburg, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Millersville, Penn West and Shippensburg. Collectively, they enrolled 83,005 students last academic year when the system experienced its first enrollment increase in 15 years. About 90% of students are Pennsylvania residents.
The vote to increase tuition comes one day after Temple University approved a budget that increased tuition an average of 3.4% for next year.
Rutgers University also on Thursday voted to increase tuition 3% for in-state and out-of-state students, which the school touted as its lowest increase in four years. Tuition for a typical in-state, full-time arts and sciences undergraduate will increase on average $448 for the year, rising from $14,933 to $15,381, the school said. Meals and housing on average will rise 4%, from $15,332 to $15,945.
Earlier this year, the University of Pennsylvania increased its total costs by 3.8% for 2026-27. Pennsylvania State University, which approves tuition increases a year in advance, hiked tuition 2% for in-state students at University Park for 2026-27 and froze it for those attending Commonwealth campuses.
The resolution approved by the PASSHE board calls for the increase to be rolled back “if sufficient funding in state appropriation is received.”
System Chancellor Christopher Fiorentino said the tuition increase would cover the $31 million gap if the system doesn’t get the increase. The system’s board of governors took the same action last year and did not roll back a 3.6% tuition hike because the state held its funding flat.
“We’re still really the most affordable four-option that’s out there,” Fiorentino said in an interview before the meeting, comparing PASSHE schools to state-related universities like Temple and Penn State where tuition is more than twice that amount.
Until 2025, the system had kept tuition at the same rate for seven years; if it had enacted inflationary increases, tuition would be $1,800 higher now, Fiorentino said. Preceding the freeze, tuition hikes were 2.5% in 2016-17, 3.5% in 2017-18 and 3% in 2018-19.
» READ MORE: Pennsylvania state universities raise tuition for the first time in seven years
Fiorentino said he continues to make the system’s case to legislators for more funding.
“Our graduates earn 65% more over their careers than people without college degrees, which is about a million dollars in lifetime earnings,” he said. “Ninety percent of our students are from Pennsylvania, and 80% of them take their first job in Pennsylvania after they graduate. Investing in the PASSHE system ... is truly an investment in the workforce of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
System to launch new “last dollar” scholarships
The system also announced that beginning in fall 2027 it would provide “last dollar” scholarships to all Pennsylvania students who receive federal Pell and state PHEAA grants. For many students from the lowest income families, the grants cover full tuition, but some families in the middle range who receive smaller amounts of aid are still on the hook for some of the cost, the chancellor said.
“They’re the ones that tend to get caught in a bind, and they’re the ones that we’ve been worried about,” he said. “We’re going to cover the balance of their tuition” and make sure they are not impacted by future tuition increases.
Fiorentino said he hopes that donors may want to contribute to the effort so that the level of aid can be expanded.
The new scholarship program, called the PASSHE Pledge, will not cover room and board or fees.
He did not have an estimate of how many students would qualify, but said system officials have been worried about losing them. And that would add to the enrollment decline at a time when the system, like other colleges, already is challenged by a shrinking pool of available high school students.
“We’re hoping this is going to increase our enrollment numbers,” Fiorentino said.
It’s too early to predict fall enrollment, he said, but some of the system’s 10 universities are doing better with deposits than last year, some the same and some a little worse.
» READ MORE: Pennsylvania’s state university system sees first enrollment increase since 2010
“We’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to be stable,” he said.
The system is partnering with community colleges to streamline the transfer process and concentrating on bringing students with some college credits and no degree back into the system, he said.
“We will continue to work hard to maintain and grow our enrollments,” he said.
