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Temple tuition rises 10% for state students

Education aid cut by budget

PHILADELPHIA — Temple University is hiking annual tuition this fall by about 10 percent — or nearly $1,200 — to make up for recently approved deep cuts in state education aid, school officials announced Friday.

The Philadelphia institution is the first of four state-related universities to set its rates following Thursday’s adoption of the state budget, which reduces aid to the campuses by 19 percent. Tuition costs are still in flux at Penn State, Lincoln and the University of Pittsburgh.

Temple students from Pennsylvania will pay $13,006 in the coming school year, up from $11,834. Out-of-state residents will see their bills rise about the same amount, from $21,662 to $22,832, though their overall increase is only 5.4 percent.

Gov. Tom Corbett had originally planned cuts of more than 50 percent to the four universities, which receive state support but are not under direct state control. He said the reductions were needed to help balance a multibillion spending gap.

But the proposal led to countless demonstrations, marches and rallies, as well as relentless lobbying efforts by angry students, staff and faculty. On Friday, Temple President Ann Weaver Hart thanked university supporters for “the largest outpouring of advocacy ever recorded” at the school.

“I know your efforts caught the attention of everyone involved in the commonwealth budgeting process,” Hart said.

Temple’s tuition increases have averaged about 6 percent annually, officials said. The university pledged to help offset this year’s hike with $6.8 million in extra financial aid.

Temple serves about 27,200 undergraduates, about 80 percent of whom are from Pennsylvania.

Penn State will set its rates for 2011-12 at a board of trustees meeting scheduled for July 15. Tuition for incoming Pennsylvania freshmen at the main campus in State College last year was $14,412, plus more than $800 in fees.

“We expect to have a tuition increase that is what you might see in a normal year, not a substantial increase of the sort that you’re going to see at other universities around the country,” Penn State President Graham Spanier said Thursday.

Pitt and Lincoln have not yet announced when their tuition decisions will be made.

The developments come as a new report listed Penn State and Pitt, respectively, as the nation’s two most expensive public schools for the 2009-10 school year. At that time, annual tuition plus fees totaled $14,416 at Penn State and $14,154 at Pitt.

The national average for tuition at four-year public schools is $6,397, according to the College Affordability and Transparency lists released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education.

Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said Pennsylvania’s state-related institutions traditionally receive less public funds than public institutions in other states.

The university’s appropriation from Harrisburg for this past academic year comprised only about 8 percent of its overall budget, Powers said.

“This latest ranking is not only a ranking of tuition and costs, it’s also a ranking of which states do not provide enough support for their public universities,” she said.

Fourteen universities fully operated by the state announced Thursday that tuition would rise 7.5 percent next year, from $5,804 to $6,240. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education had its aid cut by 18 percent.

The 14 state universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester.

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