Indiana University of Pennsylvania will launch a per-credit tuition pricing program for the fall 2016 semester for undergraduate students who domicile in Pennsylvania.
A Tuition Pricing Flexibility Pilot was originally approved by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors in January, 2015.
The model structures tuition charges on a per-credit basis to undergraduate students who domicile in Pennsylvania.
IUP's per-credit tuition model offers tuition discounts of 7, 4, and 1 percent over the next three years and two new programs to provide financial support to qualified students: the Academic Success Initiative, based on academic achievement, and a new Need-Based Grant.
“IUP's per-credit tuition model increases fairness—students pay for the credits that they take,” Dr. Michael Driscoll, IUP president, said. “Student behaviors have changed, and we need a new and more equitable model to meet the needs of both our current and future students.
“The initial discounts are designed to help students and their families transition to this new model,” Driscoll said. “The Academic Success Initiative (ASI) and the Need-Based Grant will continue after the initial three years of the tuition discounts in order to provide on-going support to students with financial need and to reward students who have strong academics and who make good progress toward graduation.”
“The additional revenues generated by this plan is part of our three-pronged approach to securing IUP's financial future,” Driscoll said. “Challenging times mean that we must be innovative in terms of our budget model in order to maintain the quality of our academic programming. Excellence doesn't come without cost. This model helps us to meet those challenges and to meet the changing needs of our students.”
The financial need-based grant is available to continuing undergraduate students who domicile in Pennsylvania and who have been enrolled full-time for at least one semester in either of the previous two academic years and are making satisfactory academic progress. This grant would be automatically awarded to those who qualify and would reflect the tuition cost of up to two credit hours.
The other support program, the Academic Success Initiative, is available to undergraduate students who domicile in Pennsylvania who average 15 credit hours at IUP in each of the two prior semesters (or 30 credits in the previous year), who have no withdrawals on their record for the previous two semesters and who have not yet completed 120 credit hours.
Students who meet these qualifications and who have a grade point average between 3.0 and 3.49 are eligible for an award equivalent to the tuition cost of a one credit hour; students who meet these qualifications and who have a grade point average of 3.5 or above are eligible for an award equivalent to the tuition cost of two credit hours.
This pricing model replaces the past undergraduate pricing structure for students who domicile in Pennsylvania, which charged a flat rate for full-time students who were enrolled in 12 to 17.9 credits (undergraduate students are considered to be full-time students if they are enrolled in 12 credit hours). This new pilot program brings IUP in line with higher education institutions across the nation and several in the State System which calculate tuition charges on a per-credit-hour basis.
“We will closely monitor the impact of this program over the next three years,” Driscoll said. “We want students to complete their degrees in a timely fashion, and we hope that these two new programs providing financial support will also provide incentives for academic success and timely completion of their degrees.”
Learn more about the per-credit tuition program from the Office of the Bursar FAQ's.