“The Board remains committed to assuring Pennsylvania residents continued access to an affordable, high-quality education,” said Board Chairman F. Eugene Dixon Jr. “With a modest increase in tuition this year, our universities will be able to provide even better services to our students.”

There will be greater tuition differentials among universities this year as a result of revised tuition policies that will affect both nonresident and graduate students. Resident undergraduate tuition will remain uniform across the System.

Nonresident undergraduate tuition will range from $5,428 to $9,046 next year, depending on where a student lives and the program in which he or she enrolls. Nine of the 14 universities will offer the lower nonresident tuition rates to some students. They are California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven and Mansfield. In all cases, nonresident students will pay at least 1½ times the tuition charged to resident students.

The Board began last year to allow universities to propose lower nonresident tuition rates in order to help them attract more out-of-state students to campuses with excess capacity. In order to lower its nonresident tuition, a school must show that by doing so it actually will increase its overall revenue.

Mansfield University of Pennsylvania was the first of the System universities to offer reduced nonresident tuition. The lower tuition was offered to residents of 16 neighboring counties in New York. The plan helped attract nearly 100 more New York residents to the university this year, producing an additional $240,000 in revenue for the school.

Full-time resident graduate tuition at the System universities will increase by $312 in 1999-2000, to $3,780. Previously, resident graduate and undergraduate students paid the same tuition rate. Starting this fall, graduate students will pay slightly higher tuition than undergraduates to more accurately reflect the higher cost of offering graduate courses.

Full-time nonresident graduate tuition will increase by $374 next year, to $6,610 for two semesters.

Room and board rates and required fees are determined by each institution’s council of trustees, and vary from campus to campus. The average cost of attending a System university this year, including tuition, room and board and all required fees, was slightly more than $8,200. Students spent, on average, another $650 for books and supplies.

“We are making every effort to ensure our institutions are operating as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, while maintaining excellent programs that provide the opportunity for a successful future to all residents of the Commonwealth,” said Chancellor James H. McCormick.

The State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, offering more than 215 undergraduate and more than 100 graduate degree programs. Nearly 350,000 System alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The System also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and the University Center for Southwest Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh.