No Tuition Increase at WCU
State System of Higher Education Votes to Freeze Tuition
West Chester University will hold next year’s tuition to the 2019-2020 rate, consistent with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors’ decision to freeze basic in-state tuition for a second consecutive year. This marks the first time in its 38-year history the system froze tuition in two consecutive years.
Basic in-state tuition for undergraduate students at WCU and the system’s 13 other universities will remain at $7,716 for the 2020-21 academic year. Also remaining the same will be the system’s technology fee for students, which stands at $478 for the academic year. The Board voted unanimously to freeze tuition and the technology fee.
“We are united in believing that even under these historic, extraordinary circumstances, the State System must maintain its affordability and not pass the burden of these times onto our students,” said Cindy Shapira, chair of the Board of Governors. “While the coronavirus has impacted so much of our society and economy, what remains the same is our mission to provide quality, affordable, accessible public higher education.”
Prior to last year, only once – the 1998-99 academic year – did the Board approve a year-to-year tuition freeze. It has never before frozen tuition for consecutive years. The decision was made even while confronting financial challenges brought on in part by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Pennsylvania will recover from this pandemic, and our outstanding universities will have a role in leading the recovery,” Chancellor Dan Greenstein said. “To be a leader will take courage, and the Board showed that kind of courage today by choosing to be on the side of students and affordability. We will be here to educate the business, healthcare, education, and community leaders of tomorrow by maintaining our place as the affordable higher education option for students of the Commonwealth.”
WCU’s tuition rates can be found here.