Tuition going up for area college students

Tuition is going up at area colleges and universities.  Penn State is the latest to announce what students will pay this fall.

Penn State University trustees have adopted a bare-bones budget with tuition increases hovering around 3 percent.

Temple University’s tuition did not go up last year, but for the semester beginning in the fall it will rise 2.8 percent.

Temple is trying to make education affordable by offering more $8.1 million more in assistance for students, said Ray Betzner, assistant vice president for university communications.

“You can only cut costs so for so long before it starts to threaten the quality of education and we can’t allow that to happen,” he said. “And so to keep the quality of the education improving at Temple University, we need to raises our prices to keep our quality going up.”

Across the river in New Jersey, Rutgers University has approved a 2.4 percent hike in combined tuition, fees, room and board for its students. It’s added $3 million more in student aid.