Board committee advances tuition adjustment for summer 2020 semester

Editor's note: The Penn State Board of Trustees voted to approve the adjusted summer 2020 tuition schedules on May 8. 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Board of Trustees Committee on Finance, Business and Capital Planning today (May 7) advanced a plan to adjust tuition schedules for the summer 2020 semester due to the ongoing financial challenges many students and families are experiencing as a result of COVID-19 disruptions. The measure will go to the full board for a final vote on Friday, May 8. 

On April 15, the University announced that it would adjust summer tuition, pending board approval, to help students who may be facing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted the economy in Pennsylvania and around the nation and world. The adjusted rates would apply to Maymester, Summer Session I, and Summer Session II.

Under the plan, undergraduate tuition for summer 2020 would be adjusted, by campus, according to a pre-existing tiered structure already in place at the University, as follows (for comparison, each campus’ normal tuition tier is provided in parenthesis):

Tier 3 rate structure for summer 2020

• University Park (Tier 1)
• Abington, Altoona, Berks, Erie, Harrisburg (Tier 2)

Tier 5 rate structure for summer 2020

• Brandywine, Hazleton, Lehigh Valley, Schuylkill, Scranton, York (Tier 3)
• Beaver, DuBois, Fayette, Greater Allegheny, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Wilkes-Barre (Tier 4)
• Shenango (Tier 5)

Graduate and World Campus students also would see adjusted summer rates under the plan, with students billed at roughly 95% of the normal tuition for their programs. 

Tuition would still vary based on a student’s residency status, academic level (lower division, upper division or graduate), and program of study, as it does in a typical year. 

Adjusted summer 2020 tuition schedules by campus and residency status are available at http://tuition.psu.edu/.