Penn State’s Board of Trustees approved a $3.8 billion dollar interim budget for the 2010-2011 school year at its meeting last week. An interim budget is adopted each year so the University has an approved operating budget from the beginning of its fiscla year on July 1^st to whenever the Board of Trustees can approve an actual budget. This year’s interim budget is basically identical to last year’s, meaning it contains no changes to tuition adjustments.

Yay! No tuition increase! Right?

Probably not… After the debacle surrounding the 2009-2010 budget appropriations, the Board of Trustees seems to be leaving its options open until they see what Penn State is appropriated by the Federal and Pennsylvania governments, lest last year’s history repeats itself.

2009 saw fights over Penn State’s status as public or private, two very different plans for possible tuition hikes (4.8% or 9.8%), and an absurd wait for the university’s appropriations, as they had been tied to the nefarious gambling bill.  With a history like that, only the truly sanguine can remain optimistic about the cost of tuition next year.

[Photo: Penn State Board of Trustees website]