The cheapest colleges in Pennsylvania

These colleges in Pennsylvania promise a great education at an affordable price.

The cost of college has skyrocketed in recent years, with the price of tuition and fees more than doubling over the past two decades. You’ve read the headlines. Many students need to take out student loans to pay for their college degrees, miring them in debt.

Fortunately, you don’t always need to promise the value of a house and your firstborn to the bursar’s office. There are many colleges in Pennsylvania where you can earn a four-year degree for less. With some budgeting and a scholarship or two, you might even graduate without any loans at all.

We’ve scoured the data and have come up with some helpful lists to aid you as you or a loved one apply to college. Using tuition and average cost data, which colleges and universities report to the federal government, we’ve identified the colleges in Pennsylvania with the cheapest tuition, those with the lowest average cost once financial aid is factored in, and the colleges in the commonwealth that have promised to meet 100% of a student’s demonstrated financial need. (You’ll want to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly called the FAFSA, to be considered for federal, state, and school-based financial aid programs.)

After all, applying to college is stressful enough without having to worry about how you’ll pay for it!

Note that we’ve only included four-year colleges on this list simply because trade schools and community colleges are almost always going to be cheaper than four-year schools. Remember that these two-year schools are an option and that many make it easy to transfer your credits to a four-year school if you decide to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Colleges in Pennsylvania with the cheapest sticker price

These schools promise the lowest tuition and fee rates in the commonwealth for entering full-time undergraduate students seeking four-year degrees. All of these Pennsylvania colleges offer a range of undergraduate programs and fields of study in art, science, technology, the humanities, and more.

Slippery Rock University – Slippery Rock

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $10,568 

Slippery Rock University is a public university in Slippery Rock, a rural community in Western Pennsylvania’s Butler County.

Slippery Rock University welcomes visitors with waterfalls. (Nick Amoscato/CC BY 2.0)

West Chester University – West Chester

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $10,775 per year

West Chester University is a public university in Southeastern Pennsylvania’s West Chester.

Students chat outside the main hall of West Chester University. (West Chester University/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Cheyney University – Cheyney

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $10,904 per year

Cheyney University is the country’s oldest historically Black university. The HBCU is located in Cheyney in the Philadelphia suburbs.

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania – East Stroudsburg

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $11,235

East Stroudsburg University is a state university in East Stroudsburg.

Pennsylvania Western University – California, Clarion, and Edinboro

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $11,247

Pennsylvania Western University, commonly known as PennWest, has three campuses in California, Clarion, and Edinboro.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania – Indiana 

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $11,290

Located in Indiana — the Western Pennsylvania town — Indiana University of Pennsylvania is a public research university not far from Pittsburgh.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania was established in 1875. (Jimmy Emerson/GPA Photo Archive/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania – Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $11,294

Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania was established in 2022 when Bloomsburg University, Lock Haven University, and Mansfield University merged to form the school.

Kutztown University – Kutztown 

In-state tuition and fees per year (2024-2025): $11,882

Kutztown University is a state university in Berks County’s Kutztown on the eastern side of the state.

Colleges in Pennsylvania with the cheapest average cost of attendance

These Pennsylvania colleges had the lowest average net price of attendance across colleges and universities in the commonwealth during the 2021-2022 academic year (the most recent data available). Though tuition and fees are set costs, students get different levels of financial aid, so the true cost of attendance can be much lower than the sticker price of tuition. Note that the average net cost of attendance includes not just tuition and fees but also room and board, books, and necessary supplies; it then factors in financial aid.

Peirce College – Philadelphia 

Average cost of attendance per year: $9,621

Peirce College, a small, private college in Philadelphia, is a commuter school focused on teaching adults, many with jobs and other responsibilities. Peirce offers programs in business, health and human services, information technology, legal studies, and liberal studies. 

Harrisburg University of Science and Technology – Harrisburg 

Average cost of attendance per year: $10,022

Harrisburg University of Science and Technology is a private school focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). Its primary campus is in Harrisburg, though it has a second location in Philadelphia that offers programs in computer science and technology.

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania – Cheyney

Average cost of attendance per year: $11,588

Cheyney University, the country’s first HBCU, has a low sticker price as well as a low average cost of attendance. A tight-knit community, the school enrolls roughly 700 students.

Originally founded in 1837, Cheyney University is the oldest HBCU in the country. (governortomwolf/CC BY 2.0)

Holy Family University – Philadelphia and Newtown

Average cost of attendance per year: $12,379

Holy Family University is a private Catholic university with campuses in Philadelphia and Newtown. Its four schools offer programs in arts and sciences, business and technology, education, and nursing and health sciences.

Lincoln University – Oxford and Philadelphia

Average cost of attendance per year: $15,502

Lincoln University is an HBCU — the second established in Pennsylvania — located near the town of Oxford in Chester County. It has a second location in Philadelphia. A small university, it is home to just under 2,000 students.

Colleges in Pennsylvania that pay 100% of a student’s demonstrated financial need

You might think that selective, private liberal arts schools would be pricey — and depending on your family income, you could very well be right. The sticker price of tuition at most of these institutions is high, but some schools commit to meeting 100% of an admitted student’s demonstrated financial need. That means you could end up paying much, much less than regular tuition, and could even get a full ride.

It all depends on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the institution itself, which determine how much you’re expected to pay. (Spread the word, because many students from low- or middle-income families wouldn’t consider applying to selective colleges like Bryn Mawr or the University of Pennsylvania, instead assuming that these schools are too expensive for them.)

Bryn Mawr College – Bryn Mawr

Tuition at Bryn Mawr College is expensive, but the school commits to fully meeting a student’s demonstrated financial need. And Bryn Mawr doesn’t use loans to do so if your family income is below $110,000, which is much higher than the median income of a Pennsylvania family. 

A castle-like building on Bryn Mawr’s campus. (Montgomery County Planning Commission)

Franklin & Marshall College – Lancaster 

Franklin & Marshall College will meet the full cost of a student’s “institutionally determined financial need” for both domestic and international students. The school does include loans in its financial aid packages.

Haverford College – Haverford

Haverford College will aid incoming, transfer, and international students with the full cost of their demonstrated financial need. Loans are not included in aid packages for students with family income below $60,000.

Lafayette College – Easton 

A small college in Easton, Lafayette College will meet 100% of a student’s financial need. Most aid is in the form of grants; loans are only included in aid packages for students with family income above $200,000.

Swarthmore College – Swarthmore 

Swarthmore College meets the full cost of a student’s financial need with grants and work-study opportunities and does not include loans in aid package (though you can of course still take out loans if you wish).

University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia 

The University of Pennsylvania is an expensive and selective institution, but it will meet the full cost of a student’s university-determined financial need with grants and work-study opportunities. In fact, the average need-based student aid package in the 2023-2024 academic year was worth more than $66,000 — more than tuition.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.