Tuition for in-state undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh will rise 2% for the upcoming academic year.
Tuition will be held flat at regional campuses.
The rates were announced as part of Pitt’s $3.2 billion operating budget and $265.2 million capital budget for fiscal year 2025, which unanimously passed at its Board of Trustees meeting Friday. Chancellor Joan Gabel said the operating budget is balanced.
Last year, in-state tuition increased 2% for undergraduates and 3.5% for graduate students.
The increase for in-state undergraduate students is about $200 per term, and $440 per term for out-of-state students, according to spokesperson Jared Stonesifer.
For an average in-state student on the Oakland campus, the list price for two terms is $20,556 for the 2024-25 academic year, Stonesifer said, and $40,060 for out-of-state students.
For the 2023-24 academic year, the two-term list price for an average student on the Oakland campus was $20,154 for in-state students and $38,520 for out-of-state students.
During the last five years, net tuition costs have increased by about 1% on average for in-state students, or about $110 per term, Gabel said.
The $3.2 billion operating budget is a 6% increase from fiscal year 2024, which was $3 billion.
“Developing the annual budget is a highly collaborative, time-intensive, very hands-on shared governance process,” Gabel said.
About $1.2 billion of the budget goes toward research and nearly $300 million toward financial aid. A key reason for the budget increase comes from research grants awarded to Pitt, Gabel said.
“This reflects Pitt’s position as a global leader in research and innovation,” she said.
The $300 million for financial aid is in addition to the in-state discount from the commonwealth appropriation, Gabel said.
“The commonwealth budget matters a great deal to the Pitt community,” she said.
Pennsylvania appropriates about $150 million each year to the university, Gabel said — all of which goes toward funding the tuition discount for in-state students. She said 16,000 students and their families benefit from this discount, which totals roughly $60,000 over a typical four-year undergraduate degree.
The state budget of $48 billion was passed Thursday night, and Gabel said Pitt received roughly the same amount as last year.
More than half of all Pitt students — both in-state and out-of-state — receive financial aid. Nearly half of Pitt’s students graduate debt-free, according to Gabel. Since 2019, the money earmarked for financial aid for students has increased by 45%.
“We are at an all-time high at investment in student aid,” she said, which totals roughly $300 million annually.
The $265.2 million capital budget will focus on initiatives in Pitt 2028, which was proposed earlier this year.
Since the budget is balanced for fiscal year 2025, trustee Larry Merlo said revenues will match or exceed expenses.
“While this may sound like a given, more and more prominent institutions across the country are facing eight-figure deficits,” he said.
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.