PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES Penn State's tuition, fees rank highest in survey

Tuition and fees went up 12 percent this school year at Penn State.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- A recent newspaper survey ranks Penn State University's tuition and fees the highest among the nation's major public universities, but the university's president said Thursday he doesn't expect that distinction to stigmatize his school.
This year, incoming Penn State freshmen who are Pennsylvania residents are paying $10,856 in tuition and fees, making it the most expensive of the 67 "flagship" public universities surveyed in 50 states by USA Today. The survey was published in Wednesday's editions of the newspaper.
"Price itself isn't a stigma, or else no one would go to Harvard or any one of the many Pennsylvania private schools that cost two or three times as much as Penn State," university President Graham Spanier said. "But it doesn't feel right to me for the Commonwealth's flagship university to cost $10,000."
Penn State's tuition and fees are 12 percent higher than in the 2003-04 school year, and 30 percent higher than in 2002-03.
"They're jacking up prices for everything these days. Here, they're building a lot of new stuff, and I'm not sure I know why," said Nathan Baldwin, a sophomore from the Pittsburgh area. "I get financial aid, but as far as me and my family goes, we're pretty much strapped."
Higher costs
Penn State is one of three schools whose annual costs exceed $10,000, according to the survey. The others are Rutgers University, at $10,460, and the University of Vermont, at $10,226.
Spanier attributed the higher costs to a series of cuts in state funding in the past three years. Penn State's appropriation declined from $334.8 million at the beginning of 2001-02 to $307.8 million in 2003-04 because of the state's budget woes.
"We aren't happy about being so expensive, since it challenges the fundamental concept of being a public university accessible to all. But this is the unfortunate reality in Pennsylvania after decades of underfunding public higher education," Spanier said.
State aid for the current fiscal year increased by 3 percent to $317.2 million. It accounts for about 11 percent of the university's budget.
Increased enrollment
Despite the funding cuts, the university's enrollment has consistently grown. According to the most recent figures, fall 2003 enrollment reached an all-time high of 83,177 students.
In 2002, the university embarked on a five-year campaign to raise $100 million in need-based scholarships in response to declining state funding. About $20 million has been raised so far, Spanier said.
Penn State also recently completed a separate campaign that raised more than $1.3 billion, of which $38 million was set aside for endowed scholarships.
Incoming freshmen receive an average financial aid package of $4,459, spokesman Tysen Kendig said.