Indiana University of Pennsylvania is proposing a tuition break for in-state undergraduates beginning next fall by moving back to a flat-rate billing model.

Under the plan, students who live in Pennsylvania and are enrolled in courses totaling between 12 and 18 credits per semester would pay $7,716 in annual tuition, regardless of academic credit load. IUP began charging full-time undergraduates per credit hour in 2016-17 academic year. That added about $565 to the tuition bill for students taking 15 credit hours a semester.

The new tuition proposal would reduce cost nearly 20%, or $1,854, for current and prospective in-state undergraduates taking 15 credits per semester, a course schedule which positions students to complete their studies in four years.

Students taking 18 credits per semester would see their annual tuition reduced by $3,768, for a 32% savings.

Of 7,044 undergraduates enrolled at IUP this fall, 6,660 — or about 95% — were state residents.

IUP trustees approved the tuition proposal on Friday. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors could approve the plan at its March 2 meeting.

“In the last several years, IUP has, out of necessity, put a great deal of focus on its financial sustainability,” university President Michael Driscoll said in a statement. “… We know that financing a university education remains a challenge for many families, and two years of a global pandemic has exacerbated this situation for many families.”

IUP has frozen tuition, fees and meal costs for three consecutive years. Housing costs have remained steady since 2016.

More than $2 million in housing scholarships have been provided since this past fall. About 93% of first-year students who enrolled for the fall semester were offered renewable merit scholarships, with an average award of $3,800.

In the 2020-21 academic year, IUP students received more than $16.4 million in scholarships from the university in addition to state and federal aid.

Enrollment at IUP and the other 13 state system schools fell in the fall semester to a total of 88,651, the lowest figure in 35 years. The number of students at State System schools peaked at 119,513 in 2010, when IUP had an enrollment of more than 15,000.

This fall, IUP’s enrollment dropped to 9,308 — marking the first time since 1969 it had fewer than 10,000 students.

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