Board of Trustees to set tuition this Friday

The state’s contribution to Pitt’s coffers is set for the upcoming year, but how much the… The state’s contribution to Pitt’s coffers is set for the upcoming year, but how much the University’s students will pay in tuition is still undecided.

On Friday, July 13, at 8:15 a.m. in 2700 Posvar Hall, the Board of Trustees will meet to set Pitt’s tuition and budget for the upcoming school year.

The announcement of a new tuition rate comes after Gov. Tom Corbett passed a $27.66 billion state budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year on June 30 that keeps the level of appropriation for the State System of Higher Education consistent with the year prior. The appropriation was not adjusted for the rate of inflation.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on June 29 that Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said any increase to tuition would remain beneath the consumer price index. But Pitt spokesman John Fedele clarified that statement on July 10, stating that the “blended rate” would be below the CPI.

The blended rate is an aggregation of the tuition across Pitt’s main and satellite campuses, meaning that some campuses could have different increases.

This differentiated rate of tuition based on the campus is something also familiar to another state-related institution — Pennsylvania State University.

Penn State spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said that the university’s President, Rodney Erickson, will propose to the Board of Trustees a 2.9 percent increase for Pennsylvania residents at the main campus and a 1.9 percent increase for those at the satellite campuses. The Board is set to vote on the university’s tuition on Friday, July 13.

For the past two years, Penn State and Pitt have taken the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively, for the highest tuition for in-state students at a public, four year school.

Temple University, another state-related institution receiving the same amount of funding from the state, announced on June 28 that its base tuition for undergraduate in-state students will remain at $13,006 — a number consistent with last year’s tuition.

Robert Beecher, chairman for Pitt’s Student Government Board’s Governmental Relations Committee, said the University and the state government have a relationship that requires each to work together to find a balance.

“Part of the reason Pitt got its [state] funding is because it promised to keep tuition steady [with the rate of inflation],” Beecher said. “I hope Pitt maintains its pledge and doesn’t go above [the rate of] inflation.”

Beecher added that because Pitt’s funding derives from two primary places — the state government and tuition — he doesn’t expect the tuition to remain at last year’s levels.

“If you’re provided flat funding every year, you can’t expect flat tuition,” he said.