State System of Higher Ed approves tuition freeze for 2020-21
Tuition at California University of Pennsylvania and the 13 other state-run universities won’t increase for the second year in a row as colleges seek to ease the financial burden on students during the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s board of trustees approved the tuition freeze at its meeting Wednesday. Basic in-state tuition for the 2020-21 school year will remain at $7,716.
Technology fees also will remain the same.
It is the first time in its 38-year history the state system has frozen the in-state tuition for a second consecutive year.
“Pennsylvania will recover from this pandemic, and our outstanding universities will have a role in leading the recovery,” Chancellor Dan Greenstein said. “To be a leader will take courage, and the board showed that kind of courage today by choosing to be on the side of students and affordability.”
Cindy Shapira, chair of the Board of Governers, said the board believes that, even during these historic, extraordinary circumstances, the state system must maintain its affordability and not pass the burden on to students.
“While the coronavirus has impacted so much of our society and economy, what remains the same is our mission to provide quality, affordable, accessible public higher education,” she said.
Prior to last year, only once – the 1998-99 academic year – did the board approve a year-to-year tuition freeze.
The PSSHE offers more than 2,300 degrees and certificates in more than 530 academic areas at its universities.