WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Board of Directors today approved a total budget of $188.4 million for 2025-26, an increase of 0.3% over 2024-25; the college’s approved operating budget is $134.3 million, an increase of 3.75%.
Tuition for in-state residents will be $530 per credit, an increase of 2.91% over 2024-25. When tuition is combined with fees – which remain unchanged – the increase is limited to 2.47%.
Penn College has not raised tuition in three of the past four years, President Michael J. Reed noted, but increases in the prices the college pays for commodities – combined with spiraling utility costs – have necessitated the slight increase in tuition for 2025-26, he said.
The administration’s primary goal in budgeting, Reed said, is to maintain the college’s high academic quality and hands-on, immersive approach to learning while keeping costs as low as possible for students and their families. Though tuition will rise by $15 per credit in 2025-26, the college’s extensive efforts to mitigate that increase – a strong commitment to scholarship assistance and related initiatives – will positively impact the bottom line for students, he said.
In the past five years, scholarship assistance awarded by the college and the Penn College Foundation has risen by 132%. The average award amount has also increased (by nearly 40%) during that time period. There are currently 388 scholarships available through the foundation and the college.
Additionally, a Momentum Incentive Program offers significant savings to all first-time, full-time bachelor’s degree students with fall semester starts. As long as they are enrolled continuously and maintain a 3.0 GPA, the students’ incoming year tuition rate is locked in for the remaining prescribed time of their program.
Also, a Grow PA Scholarship Grant Program offered by PHEAA that begins with the 2025-26 academic year enables Pennsylvania residents enrolled in Penn College majors who have not yet completed the requirements for a bachelor-degree to be potentially eligible for grants of up to $5,000 per year for a maximum of four academic years. Penn College is the only four-year institution in Pennsylvania for which all discipline-specific associate- and bachelor-degree programs are pre-qualified.
“We always strive to keep tuition and fees as low as possible, but when rising costs leave us with no other choice but to increase tuition, we work as hard as possible to lessen the financial impact for students in other ways,” Reed said. “The costs associated with providing a technology-based education with real-world experiences will exceed those associated with liberal arts programming, but the return on investment realized by graduates of our STEM-related programs in high-demand, financially rewarding occupations offsets their initial investment. Employers continue to seek our graduates, who have the requisite skills to succeed from day one on the job, as evidenced by our 97.7% placement rate.”
In 2025-26, tuition and fees combined will be $18,690 annually for a typical Pennsylvania resident student enrolled for two 15-credit semesters. Combined tuition and fees for non-Pennsylvania residents will total $26,640 annually for students taking the same credit load over two semesters.
To keep pace with inflation, Residence Life’s student housing rates and Dining Services’ meal plan rates both will increase by 2% in 2025-26.
Included in the 2024-25 budget are voluntary gifts of $100,000 to the City of Williamsport and $35,000 to the Williamsport Area School District. These gifts are re-evaluated annually.
Penn College’s state appropriation is budgeted at $35.67 million, based on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025-26 state budget proposal, which calls for the college to receive a 5% increase. The projected appropriation accounts for 18.9% of the total budget and 26.5% of the operating budget.
In the budget, total student enrollment for Fall 2025 is projected to increase by 125 students over Fall 2024’s total of 4,575.
The college’s total budget includes revenue-generating auxiliary fund budgets (Workforce Development, Residence Life, Dining Services, Dunham Children’s Learning Center, The College Store), as well as the restricted current fund budget (grants, contracts and restricted donations for which outside entities – such as governmental agencies – direct the use of funds).
Penn College was recently designated an “Opportunity College” by the Carnegie Classifications, exemplifying how campuses can foster student success. The Opportunity Colleges and Universities designation is part of a newly developed Student Access and Earnings Classification published by the Carnegie Foundation and the American Council on Education.
As a special mission affiliate of Penn State, Penn College offers a diverse array of academic majors and flexible academic pathways.
In addition to its renowned credit programming, the college offers workforce training and education in apprenticeship, clean energy, health care, advanced manufacturing (including plastics and polymers), computer skills, transportation and business/leadership.
For more about Penn College, a national leader in applied technology education, visit www.pct.edu, email admissions@pct.edu or call toll-free 800-367-9222.