Penn State Board Of Trustees Committee Advances 2025-26 Budget

Penn State’s Board of Trustees Committee on Finance, Business, and Capital Planning advanced its 2025-26 budget at its meeting Thursday, featuring tuition, food, and housing rates for the 2025-26 academic year. The budget will be voted on, and likely approved, at the full board’s meeting on Friday in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

The budget features a tuition increase for attendees of Penn State’s University Park campus, with in-state students seeing a 2% bump in their tuition, while out-of-state students will see a 4% raise. In-state students at the university’s Commonwealth Campuses will not see their tuition rise, though out-of-state students at those campuses will deal with a 1% bump.

The budget includes a 3% pool ($83 million University-wide, including $48 million in the Education and General budget) for employee annual salary increases. The university recently struck a deal with Teamsters Local Union 8 to avoid a strike and give Teamsters employees 20% raises over the next four years.

The proposed budget calls for increased central funding used for student financial aid by $5 million, bringing Penn State’s total financial aid to more than $455 million for 2025-26.

Beginning with fall 2025 appointments, the budget also calls for a 4% bump in stipends to graduate students.

In the food and housing budget, University Park housing rates for a traditional double room would increase by $118 per semester, or 3%, to $4,039. The cost of the mid-level meal plan, the most popular option, would rise by $98 per semester, or 3.5%, to $2,901, bringing both rates to a total of $6,940.

At Penn State’s Abington, Altoona, Beaver, Berks, Brandywine, and Harrisburg campuses, similar housing and meal rates would increase by $141 per semester, or 2.15%, to $6,705. The Behrend, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton, Mont Alto, and Schuylkill campuses would see a bump of $92 per semester, or 1.42%, to $6,562.

“Our focus is on preparing Penn State for the future and making a great university even greater,” Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said in a statement . “A critical part of that is a balanced budget, as it will provide us with the financial strength to evolve as an institution and invest in areas critical to our mission, including our research enterprise and our academic programs, so that we remain at the forefront of innovation.”