Tuition will go up for PASSHE schools unless state increases funding
Undergraduate students enrolled at universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) will have to pay a little more for tuition in the upcoming academic year unless more funding is included in the state budget.
The PASSSHE’s board of governors voted Thursday to raise in-state undergraduate tuition by $172 per semester. The new rate will be $4,169 per semester, or $8,338 for the full academic year. However, the board of governors said tuition would be rolled back depending on how much funding for the state-owned schools is in the 2026-27 state budget, which is still being negotiated almost two weeks past the deadline for its delivery.
Last year, tuition was increased by $139 per semester. Tuition was frozen from 2018 to 2024.
Cynthia Shapira, who leads the PASSHE Board of Governors, said, “Every dollar counts for our students, and while we would prefer to freeze tuition as the board did for seven years, we kept this increase as low as possible. If the state provides sufficient funding, the board is committed to rolling back the rate.”
The California campus of Pennsylvania Western University is part of PASSHE, along with PennWest’s campuses in Clairton and Edinboro, and universities in Slippery Rock, Indiana, Shippensburg, Millersville, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, Cheyney, and campuses in Mansfield, Bloomsburg and Lock Haven that make up Commonwealth University. About 83,000 students are enrolled in the PASSHE system, including about 2,500 at the California campus of PennWest.
PASSHE maintains that even with the tuition increase, the cost of attending any of its campuses in 2026-27 will be lower than if tuition had increased at the rate of inflation, and that cost controls have resulted in $700 million in savings.
Also on Thursday, PASSHE unveiled what it is calling the “PASSHE Pledge,” which would cover the remaining tuition costs for undergraduate, in-state students who receive both a federal Pell Grant and a PA State Grant. Shapira said it would “eliminate a financial barrier to baccalaureate degrees and high-quality jobs for many hard-working students.”
PASSHE Chancellor Christopher Fiorentino said that even when students receive federal and state grants “a remaining tuition gap can make college feel out of reach. The PASSHE Pledge is designed to close that gap for eligible students so more Pennsylvanians can start college, stay on track and earn a degree.”
Donor support will be sought for the initiative, which will start in the fall of 2027. It will not cover fees, books, housing or meals.