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Penn State, as reported in Friday's edition of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, is increasing tuition for residents by 2.5% and for out-of-state students by 4%.
According to Spotlight PA's article, the university is set to receive $242.1 million from the state -- with the possibility of an additional $4 million from an incentive-based program.
All of this in addition to the state's financial obligations for state-system schools like Commonwealth University's Lock Haven and Mansfield campuses and Millersville and other universities -- colleges that are less autonomous from their government benefactor.
We must wonder about the degree to which that autonomy for Penn State contributes to its tuition costs climbing faster and steeper than the state-system schools.
We have come to believe that the state government needs to use its leverage -- the tax dollars taken from all of us and provided to these quasi-independent colleges -- to seek tangible fiscal reforms.
The administrative side of college education is overstaffed and a drain on the finances of the schools, the state and, most importantly, the families of students grappling with tuition costs that outpace wages and salaries.
While administrative costs may be the easier target, we believe the state must also be clear-eyed that bloat has crept throughout the university, and that a responsible course of action requires leaner staffing and a clear commitment to avoiding costly new endeavors.
College, over generations, has at its best been an engine for both merit in American workplaces and opportunity for American families.
For decades men and women have improved their financial security and better positioned their families for the future through getting a college education. For decades employers have had increasing confidence that they can hire the best man or woman for a job -- because people have opportunities to work hard and prove themselves without regard to their family history or socio-economic background.
It is vital that college continue to be affordable enough to continue to fulfill these roles -- vital enough for state tax dollars to be conditional on universities not losing ground on access and affordability.