Pennsylvania Promise is a plan to make higher education affordable in Pennsylvania. Read more about why it’s important and how it could work.
We’re looking for residents, students, future students, and parents to stand up for this Pennsylvania’s future. Here’s how you can act.
Pennsylvania students are leaving college with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, and who knows how many students are simply not going to college because they cannot afford it? Pennsylvania, which U.S. News this year ranked 50th in higher education, is failing a generation by not providing affordable public higher education. It’s time for Pennsylvania Promise — a plan to make higher education affordable in the Commonwealth.
The Pennsylvania Promise* Pilot Program would be a statewide last-dollar promise program in the Commonwealth that would remove financial burdens for students and their families. With Pennsylvania Promise, our Commonwealth could promise to:
- Make college more affordable and lessen student debt for future generations for students attending a Pennsylvania community college, a state-owned (PASSHE) institution, a state-related institution, or Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.
- Cover tuition and fees for qualifying students as well as room and board for the most at-need students who attend a public university or community college.
- Benefit working-class students and families across the Commonwealth.
* This information will be updated after the 2025–26 legislation is introduced.
Student story
The cost of college at Indiana University of Pennsylvania has made it affordable for me to earn my bachelor’s degree, yet I will still graduate with student-loan debt. I think that for the financial success of students, we need to reduce the student-loan debt among students and provide more affordable options, especially for families with multiple college students. I have a twin sister who attends Lock Haven University, and it has been a huge financial burden for my mother to help both of us through college.
—Kirsten,
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
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