Keeping lid on tuition increases

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.comTimes Leader Staff Writer

For the second consecutive year, area colleges and universities have kept a lid on tuition increases.

The institutions, according to administrators, are trying to strike a balance between their mission of educating area residents and generating enough revenue to pay for the rising costs of doing business and expanding campuses.

In an analysis of the rates for tuition and room and board for area colleges, The Times Leader found that only Luzerne County Community College students will pay the same this fall as they did the last.

The cost for a full time student enrolling this fall at the Nanticoke school remains at $2,520 per year or $1,260 per semester. Part-time students are charged on a per credit basis at a rate of $84 per credit for Luzerne County residents, also the same as the 2010-11 academic year.

“I am pleased that LCCC can continue to enhance the programs and services we offer to thousands of area students without increasing our tuition,” said Thomas P. Leary, president of Luzerne County Community College. “We faced many obstacles this year to balance our budget in light of reduced funding from the commonwealth.”

Officials from other schools said they did their best to hold increases to a minimum.

“While some increases are necessary due to escalating costs, we make every effort to keep those increases to a minimum. Our goal is to always to provide the best education to our students at the least cost. That’s especially true during challenging economic times,” said Fran Calpin, a Keystone College spokesman.

The La Plume-based college raised rates 3.1 percent, the lowest increase in at least eight years. The rate was below the 12-month rate of inflation of 3.6 percent. Six other schools, the three local Penn State campuses in Lehman Township, Sugarloaf Township and Dunmore, Lackawanna College and Marywood University, both in Scranton, and Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre also kept their increases below that level.

“One of Lackawanna College’s main goals is to keep tuition as low as possible to make it affordable to prospective students in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” said college spokesman Christopher S. Kucharski. “Compared to what has happened to other institutions in this economy, we have been mostly successful in doing that. However, our revenues are tuition-driven so sometimes we are forced to make moderate increases as we did this year.”

Misericordia University in Dallas Township and King’s College in Wilkes-Barre increased the cost of going to college lightly in excess of the inflation rate.

Still, the 3.9 percent increase King’s is levying matches the lowest percentage rate increase in the last three decades.

Father John Ryan, president of King’s College, noted that that school has made concerted efforts to keep increases low.

“King’s is dedicated to providing a quality liberal arts education in a cost-efficient manner to our student body, almost half of whom are first generation college students. The college’s efforts have resulted in a tuition increase of less than 4 percent in each of the last three years,” Ryan said.

Misericordia’s 3.8 percent hike is the lowest at the school in nearly a decade.

“Misericordia University has a history of educating first-generation college students, so we are especially mindful how the slow-to-recover national economy has affected families from all walks of life. That’s why we have worked diligently to limit the increase in tuition and related fees for our students and their families,” said Paul Krzywicki, a university spokesman.

He added that while keeping cost increases down, the school hasn’t scaled back on expansion and improvements.

Last year, The University of Scranton raised rates 4.3 percent. That was its lowest percentage increase in two decades. This year that increase was even lower, at 4.25 percent.

Edward Steinmetz, vice president for finance and treasurer, said the school focused on “reducing costs,” and “was able to trim expenses by more than $1 million this year, which follows the more than $2.6 million in reductions and reallocations done last year – despite facing cost increases in health care, energy, library periodicals and technology that far outpace inflation.”

The largest increase will be felt by students at Johnson College in Dickson City. When combining tuition, room and board, the rate jumps 5.3 percent this fall compared to the rate incoming freshmen paid last year. Baptist Bible College in Clarks Green was not far behind with a 5.2 percent hike.

According to the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Pennsylvania, the average increase in full-time undergraduate tuition will be 4.1 percent this fall compared to last year. The national rates of increase are 4.6 percent for private colleges and 7 percent for public institutions, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.