PITTSBURGH (AP) - A growing number of Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities are seeking flexibility to adjust tuition and fees in order to bolster student recruitment and cover expenses.
The governing board of the State System of Higher Education on Wednesday considered proposed pilot projects from several of the 14 campuses and was expected to vote on them Thursday, spokesman Kenn Marshall said.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday that Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in the state’s northwestern corner wants to reduce tuition for out-of-state students, which is currently 50 percent higher than the $6,622 that Pennsylvania residents pay.
Edinboro officials say the out-of-state tuition of $9,935 is $5,000 more than students from neighboring New York and Ohio would pay in their home states. The university proposes to trim its non-resident rate to 5 percent more than the resident rate, or $6,953.
“This is really important to us because the majority of our out-of-state students are from Ohio and New York,” Edinboro president Julie Wollman said. “This allows us to be competitive.”
Administrators at the system’s 14 campuses say they want the same flexibility that competing Pennsylvania schools already have. State funding for the system has shrunk in recent years and system-wide enrollment has declined by 6 percent since 2010.
At California University of Pennsylvania, in the state’s southwestern corner, officials propose tuition reductions for active-duty military people who enroll online, as well as their spouses and dependents.
While the rate change would reduce revenue by $15,000, it is expected to boost enrollment by 10 percent and result in a 5 percent net revenue gain over the two-year life of the pilot program.
Edinboro and East Stroudsburg universities are seeking a 25 percent tuition surcharge for students in their nursing programs.
Clarion University wants to create course-specific fees for two high-cost programs for which demand is high - undergraduate nursing and communication and speech disorders.
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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, https://www.post-gazette.com
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