The price tag of a Penn education has increased by roughly 50% over the last decade, exceeding the average rate of inflation.
Using figures from the University’s Common Data Set, The Daily Pennsylvanian compared changes in the cost of undergraduate attendance with the local consumer price index since 2016. The analysis accounts for annual tuition, housing, and dining costs, along with Penn’s estimates for books, transportation, and personal expenses.
This school year, students living on campus face the highest cost of attendance, at $99,082. Off-campus students living at home pay $81,548, while students living off campus and away from home have a cost of attendance of $97,444.
“The University has a longstanding and deeply held commitment to making a Penn education affordable for students and families across the income spectrum,” a University spokesperson wrote in a statement. “That progress reflects Penn’s continued expansion of financial aid since the University began its transition to all-grant financial aid in 2008.”
The cost of attendance has risen steadily for all undergraduate students. Students living on campus saw a 48.3% increase, compared with 54.4% for students living at home and 45.9% for students living off campus.
Generally, those expenses have increased faster than local inflation. From 2016 to 2026, the undergraduate cost of attendance grew between 38% and 39% based on the category of student, while the Consumer Price Index in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington area increased by just 32.13%.
Across all student groups, tuition hikes were the primary reason for increases in cost of attendance. Penn’s tuition rose from $43,838 in the 2015-16 academic year to $65,670 for the current academic year. These changes represent two-thirds of the total cost of attendance increase for on-campus students, and just over 70% of the total increase for all off-campus students.
In March, the University Board of Trustees approved a 3.9% increase in undergraduate tuition costs for the following academic year.
For students living in University City but not at home, rising housing costs were the secondary driver of cost of attendance increases. In 2015, those students faced housing expenses of $9,060. This year, on-campus students paid a minimum of $13,644 while those living at home were estimated to pay $12,978 — increases of 50.6% and 43.2%, respectively.
Penn did not disclose housing cost estimates for off-campus commuter students.
The only category in which costs decreased over the timeframe was personal expenses, which fell slightly from $2,024 in 2015 to $2,008 in 2026.
The majority of Penn undergraduates — more than 6,000 students in the 2026-27 school year — are living on campus. That figure includes the entirety of first-year and second-year undergraduates who are required to live at the University, as well as 1,320 juniors and seniors.
For the 2026-27 academic year, on-campus students pay an estimated $99,082 before financial aid. On-campus students are also spending an estimated minimum of 4.9% more on housing than students living off campus but not at home.
On-campus students spend 65.6% more than students living at home and 14% more than students living off campus but not at home on food and dining expenses. All students are expected to spend the same amount of money on books and supplies, as well as on personal expenses. Transportation costs for students living on campus and off campus — but not at home — are the same, while students living at home are expected to pay 62.6% more.
The cost of attendance reflects the amount paid by students not receiving any financial aid, which represents slightly more than half the undergraduate population. For the 2024-25 school year — the latest data available — 4,575 full-time undergraduate students were given aid. The average financial aid package was $73,338.
In recent years, Penn has significantly expanded its financial aid programs. In 2024, the University raised the income threshold for families eligible to receive full tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000. Penn also began excluding the value of the primary family home among assets when determining aid.
“The University has a longstanding and deeply held commitment to making a Penn education affordable for students and families across the income spectrum,” a University spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Over the past decade, Penn’s average need-based grant has grown faster than the cost of attendance, in both percentage and dollar terms.”
Penn awarded nearly $300 million in undergraduate financial aid for the 2024-25 year, with $17,813,841 coming from federal grants, $2,701,977 from state grants, and $4,416,536 from third-party sources. All financial aid awards are grant-based, and Penn offers no aid based on merit.
According to the spokesperson, the average need-based grant for first-year students receiving aid rose 62% within the timeframe. As a result, the average cost after aid is lower today than it was a decade ago.
“That progress reflects Penn’s continued expansion of financial aid since the University began its transition to all-grant financial aid in 2008,” the spokesperson added. “The University remains focused on ensuring that a student’s financial circumstances are not a barrier to accessing a Penn education.”
Staff reporter Moukthika Kanakala contributes to data reporting and can be reached at kanakala@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies economics and political science.
