The Board of Trustees announced today that Temple is freezing tuition for the upcoming academic year, as well as its decision to increase financial aid spending by $8 million as the university prepares to launch a new fund raising campaign.
In a press release today, the university announced that tuition would remain the same for both in-state and out-of-state students at $13,006 and $22,832, respectively.
The decision to freeze tuition came after the commonwealth’s proposed budget kept Temple’s appropriation level with last year’s at $139.9 million, according to Ray Betzner, assistant vice president of university communications.
“The state general assembly has all but finalized the decision,” Betzner said. The deadline to pass the budget is the start of the next fiscal year, which begins Monday, July 1.
Last year, the state cut the university’s appropriation by seven percent in the middle of the academic year after it failed to receive the necessary revenue to complete the budget.
Citing better economic conditions, Betzner said the university is not facing the same situation happening again. However, if the university does face more cuts in the coming year, the freeze on tuition could be lifted.
“No decision has been made on that, in the past [the Board of Trustees] made that decision on a case by case basis,” said Betzner, adding “nobody is talking about that right now.”
In the past three years, the university has cut costs by over $113 million. Betzner said the freeze on tuition as well as increased financial aid spending will not have an impact on the quality of student’s education.
“A lot [of the cuts] have been out the administration’s budget,” Betzner said. “The university has worked very hard not to cut costs from the academic experience.”
No word was given on any cuts in the coming year.
Speaking on behalf of Temple Student Government, Julian Hamer, TSG vice president of services said that TSG was “ecstatic” about the news to freeze tuition.
“If students cannot afford to attend the university, then Temple does not exist,” Hamer said.
In addition to increasing student financial aid, Temple announced plans to ramp up its fundraising efforts by reaching out to alumni, family and friends for support.
John Moritz can be reached at john.moritz@temple.edu.
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