Tuition at Pa. universities set to increase 3.5 percent
HARRISBURG - Students at Pennsylvania's 14-state owned universities will have to dig deeper into their wallets to pay for tuition and technology.
HARRISBURG - Students at Pennsylvania's 14-state owned universities will have to dig deeper into their wallets to pay for tuition and technology.
The State System of Higher Education's governing board yesterday approved an average 3.5 percent tuition increase and a nearly similar boost in a separate technology fee for the 2008-09 school year.
Full-time undergraduate students who are Pennsylvania residents will pay $5,358 for the year, an increase of $181.
The annual tuition for out-of-state undergraduates, which also is increasing, will range from $8,038 to $13,396 for 2008-09, depending on factors such as their major and the university they attend.
The technology fee will increase by $6 for resident students to $181 a year and by $9 for nonresidents to $264 a year.
The universities will also be expected to cut about $7 million in combined spending because the tuition increase will not completely fill a $31.6 million shortfall in the system's nearly $1.4 billion budget.
Finding new ways to reduce operating expenses is becoming increasingly difficult, said Angelo Armenti Jr., California University of Pennsylvania president. He said his school has left many positions vacant.
"We can only cut these things one time, and then the consequences accrue," Armenti said. "We've made cuts in our computer center by not replacing people who retired, and now we're dealing with a security challenge."
State funding for the universities' education and general expenses is increasing by 3 percent this year to $498.5 million, about $10 million less than the system requested.
The state system schools are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities. They enroll more than 110,000 students.
