Tuition going up at Pennsylvania’s state-run colleges

Tuition for the 120,000 students at Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities will go up $436 a year for in-state students when a 7.5 percent tuition hike takes effect in September.

The governing board of the State System of Higher Education yesterday approved the increase to compensate for the loss of more than $90 million in state and federal funding.

State lawmakers voted for an 18 percent cut to the state-owned universities earlier this week.

The board also raised technology fees by 50 percent to $348 a year.

Kenn Marshall, a spokesman for the State System of Higher Education, said the increase doesn’t fully compensate for funding cuts approved by the Legislature earlier this week.

“We’re going to be getting about $90 million less in state funding next year, that’s about $802 per student, and the tuition increase is for $436,” he said. “So we will need to make some additional reductions in our budgets in order to balance our budgets as a result of the action today.”

It’s not known yet how much tuition will be for out-of-state students, who pay as much as two and a half times what in-state residents pay.

The chancellor of the state system says even with increases, it’s still running a $33 million deficit.