Pitt to raise in-state tuition for undergrads on its main campus by 2%

The University of Pittsburgh is increasing its base tuition for in-state undergraduate students on its main campus by 2% this fall, but will freeze tuition on its branch campuses in Hempfield, Johnstown, Bradford and Titusville.

Out-of-state undergraduates will see increases of 7% on the main campus, while graduate students from both Pennsylvania and outside the state will see their rates go up by 3.5%.

The tuition schedule covering the university’s 34,000 students in 2023-24 was approved Wednesday by the budget and executive committees of Pitt’s board of trustees.

The tuition rates are part of Pitt’s $3 billion operating budget for this fiscal year. The budget is 8.4% larger than last year’s $2.7 billion spending plan and includes a 4% increase in the compensation pool for staff and nonunion faculty.

The annual base tuition for in-state students on the Oakland main campus will go up by nearly $400, from $19,760 to $20,155 — highest among Pennsylvania’s state-related universities. Non-Pennsylvania undergraduates on the main campus will pay $38,520.

“Pitt’s tuition rates are designed to ensure the university continues to deliver an exceptional educational experience while balancing the needs of students and their families,” said Hari Sastry, senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer.

Housing rates will go up by 10% and meal rates by 6.7% for students on the main campus.

“Even in the absence of a state appropriation,” Sastry said, Pitt recognizes the importance of providing students and their families clarity on the year ahead. He said the state funding Pitt receives is used to reduce rates for Pennsylvanians.

Pitt’s base undergraduate tuition rate — $20,155, after Wednesday’s vote — is typically pegged to its largest school, Arts and Sciences.

But a 2% boost will result in higher tuition rates in more expensive majors and schools at Pitt this fall, including $22,513 for business, $23,001 for computing and information and $25,375 in nursing.

The rates do not include room, board and other fees.

Average Oakland costs with room and board, books and miscellaneous expenses for 2022-23 averaged about $35,100, according to its website.

Wednesday’s increases were approved unanimously without discussion during the public session. Pitt’s new chancellor, Joan Gabel, on the job less than two weeks, attended and was present for the Zoom call and vote but did not speak.

Afterward, Gabel sent a message to campus.

“We are certainly cognizant of the burden of higher education costs at Pitt and throughout the nation. We will continue to work diligently to control this burden while elevating financial assistance and overall quality,” she wrote.

She said the university moved forward with the assumption that the state ultimately will provide its yearly appropriation, which enables about 17,000 Pennsylvanians to pay lower in-state tuition.

Pitt’s appropriation from the state remains up in the air. Funding for it and other public campus systems are mired in a dispute between the Legislature and Gov. Josh Shapiro over the state’s budget. It is now nearly a month late.

As state-related universities, Penn State and Pitt need a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature each year to secure funding.

Republican lawmakers have balked at what they say is unwillingness by Pitt and Penn State to commit to freezing tuition. They also say the universities are not adequately transparent and want them brought more fully under the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

With fall classes weeks away, other public university prices already have been set.

Last Thursday, about 85,000 students across the State System of Higher Education saw their tuition frozen for a fifth straight year at $7,716. There hasn’t been a hike since 2018-19 at the system’s 10 state-owned universities, including Penn West University (California, Clarion and Edinboro), Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock University.

Meanwhile, Penn State University on Friday approved in-state undergraduate tuition increases of 2% in 2023-24 and 2024-25 at its main campus. The increases will push tuition to $19,672 this fall and $20,459 in 2024-25.

For out-of-state undergraduates, rates will rise by 4% both years to $39,626 by this fall and $41,211 by 2024-25.

Tuition won’t increase for the next two years for in-state undergraduates on Penn State’s branch campuses. That means students at branches including Penn State New Kensington in Upper Burrell, Penn State Greater Allegheny on the border of McKeesport and White Oak, Penn State Beaver and Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, will pay a base tuition of $13,824.

Out-of-state students on branch campuses students will see a 1% increase to $23,316 this fall.

Temple University in Philadelphia, another state-related university, will charge in-state students a base tuition of $17,976 after raising 2023-24 prices by about 4.2%.

At Penn State, administrators called the increases reasonable for an institution that is paring tens of millions of dollars in operating expenses to balance its budget and receives less state aid per student than any public university in Pennsylvania.

Trustee Edward “Ted” Brown III pointed to revenue lost due to steep enrollment losses since 2010 across Penn State’s branch campuses, from 33,977 in 2010 to 23,838 this fall. He said Penn State needed to do more to help boost branch campus enrollment.

“We would not need to have a tuition increase for in-state (students) if we filled 1,000 of the 10,000 empty seats at (branch) campuses,” Brown said.