The Budget & Finance Committee of the University Board of Trustees met on Feb. 27.
Credit: Jean ParkThe University Board of Trustees voted to approve a 3.7% undergraduate tuition increase for the 2025-26 academic year alongside an increase in the undergraduate financial aid budget to a record $328 million.
At a Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, administrators announced that tuition will increase from $60,920 to $63,204, fees from $7,766 to $8,032, and room and board from $19,174 to $19,876 next academic year. This year’s increase to the financial aid budget comes after Penn announced a new financial aid initiative titled “The Quaker Commitment” in November of 2024 that aims to improve support for middle-income families.
Penn will no longer consider the value of the primary family home among assets in determining financial aid eligibility and will raise the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 with typical assets. The new policy — which goes into effect at the start of the 2025-26 academic year — will also increase financial aid packages and guarantee full tuition scholarships to a greater number of students.
“The Quaker Commitment is a bold move that makes a Penn education more financially inclusive for middle and lower-income families, while reinforcing the University’s reputation as a leader in fostering greater access to a Penn education,” Interim Penn President Larry Jameson wrote in a statement.
The tuition increase comes as Penn faces financial uncertainty following numerous proposed federal funding cuts that could cost the University hundreds of millions of dollars.
In recent weeks, administrators from the School of Arts and Sciences and the Perelman School of Medicine cited funding losses as they instructed faculty to reduce graduate program admissions rates by around one-third for the upcoming academic year.
At the meeting, “federal government policy changes” was listed as a key “issue” affecting the parameters.
Accompanying the tuition rise is a 6.4% increase in the undergraduate financial aid budget. Approximately 46% of undergraduates received financial aid grants for the 2023-24 academic year, averaging about $66,222 in funding according to Penn Admissions. The percentage of Pell Grant recipients among undergraduates also increased to a new high of 21%.
At the Thursday meeting, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer of the Penn Division of Finance Mark Dingfield said that Penn receives 6% of its undergraduate need-based funding from the federal government through Pell Grants.
“That’s a really critical source of funding for our undergraduate need program, and as we think about potential federal risks to our institution, that’s what we are most focused on, because of the direct impact on our students’ ability to have financial aid,” Dingfield said.
The tuition increase is on par with those of other Ivy League universities that have announced their 2025-26 academic costs. Yale University’s tuition and costs will increase by just under 4%, and Brown University’s tuition and fees will increase by 4.85%.
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