The University of Pennsylvania today reaffirmed its commitment to an all-grant, no-loan financial-aid program as its Board of Trustees authorized a $188 million financial-aid budget for 2013-14 while increasing total undergraduate charges by 3.9 percent.

This year’s financial-aid budget reflects an increase of $9 million, or 5 percent, over projected 2012-13 aid expenditures.  Increasing access for undergraduate students is one of Penn President Amy Gutmann’s top priorities. Since she took office in 2004, Penn’s financial-aid budget has grown by 138 percent, averaging 9.1 percent per year, more than twice the average annual growth in total charges.  

 "At Penn, nothing stands in the way of providing educational opportunities to the most gifted young women and men,” Gutmann said.  “Through our innovative no-loan program, we are sending a strong and positive message to present and future Penn students: This institution will continue to recruit and enroll the finest students, and no student will need to decline the opportunity to experience a Penn education for financial reasons.”

Total undergraduate charges for 2013-14 -- tuition, fees and room and board –- will increase by 3.9 percent.  This is the fifth consecutive year that Penn has kept its tuition growth under 4 percent.

Undergraduate tuition will increase to $40,594 from $39,088; room and board will increase to $12,922 from $12,368; and fees will increase to $5,296 from $5,122. Tuition and fees cover 70 percent of the direct cost of delivering a Penn education. 

As a result of Penn's financial-aid program, the average net cost for aided students to attend Penn today is almost $3,000 less than it was in 2005 in constant 2005 dollars.

Penn has substituted grants for loans for all aid-eligible undergraduates since 2009. Next year, the average grant for students is estimated at $40,200.

This year, 46 percent of Penn’s undergraduate students received need-based grants from the University. Most undergraduates from families with incomes of less than $175,000 are receiving grant assistance, and the typical student with family income of less than $40,000 receives grant aid that covers full tuition, room and board. 

Over the past several years, as increasing numbers of students have required financial assistance, Penn has maintained its commitment to meeting full need with no-loan packages.

Penn is one of fewer than 50 private institutions in the United States that admit academically qualified students without regard to their families' ability to pay while also meeting the determined full need of all undergraduates. Of the other colleges and universities with no-loan financial-aid policies for undergraduates, Penn has the largest undergraduate enrollment at 10,300.

Increasing educational access was a priority of Penn’s recently completed Making History campaign, which raised $4.3 billion. The campaign raised $366.3 million for undergraduate student aid, exceeding its goal of $350 million.

Additional information on undergraduate financial aid at Penn is available at www.sfs.upenn.edu/paying/paying-pro.htm.