However, tuition will vary based on major and academic year, as it does in a typical year.
Due to the sustained financial hardship, graduate and World Campus students will also see a change in their tuition; they will be billed at 95% of the normal tuition for their program. More detailed information on Graduate School tuition will be available on the Graduate School website.
Possible late summer transition to campus learning
At this point, the University is planning to deliver all courses and programming virtually for the Maymester, Summer Session I and Summer Session II, through a mix of asynchronous online and synchronous remote course offerings. Grading methodology will revert to its typical form, with students receiving a letter grade for most courses. In addition, while the plan calls for online instruction for Summer Session II, the University is preparing in case health dynamics shift and students could safely return to campuses for in-person instruction. Any such decisions and related processes for welcoming students back will be made based on guidance from government and health authorities and include careful planning focused first and foremost on the health and well-being of students, faculty and staff. More information will be shared as the situation continues to evolve.
“As the world around us has shifted significantly during this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with this decision, we aim to give our students as much consistency as possible for their academic progress, while also being nimble enough to respond to the best case scenario,” said Nick Jones, Penn State executive vice president and provost. “Since the University does not yet know when in-person activities on our campuses can safely resume, we hope that this announcement will set up our students to maintain their planned paths of learning, curricula and critical engagement as they pursue their degrees.”
Penn State’s goals for the 2020 summer sessions are to protect the health, well-being and safety of all students, faculty and staff while delivering robust educational offerings and co-curricular support and engagement opportunities.
“Penn State has vast expertise related to teaching, learning and support for online instruction already built into our World Campus programs and residential online courses, and we are sharing that expertise with our other campuses across the commonwealth,” said Yvonne Gaudelius, associate vice president and senior associate dean of Undergraduate Education. “As one of the world’s leading higher education institutions for online education, we know that we have the infrastructure in place to continue bringing our same mission to life and meeting our students’ educational needs in their changing locations and environments.”
For more detailed information on how these changes will affect first-year and returning undergraduate and graduate students, please visit https://news.psu.edu/story/615742/2020/04/15/penn-state-offer-enhanced-online-offerings-and-support-over-summer.
More information on summer camps and other summer programming and activities will be available soon, as the University action groups charged with addressing the coronavirus pandemic finalize their decisions. Further, the University is planning and operating with the goal of having on-campus courses in the fall semester, if circumstances allow, but no decision has been made at this time.