Towson University to discount tuition for some out-of-state students

Towson University will lower tuition for students from six states surrounding Maryland in an effort to keep more of them enrolled, a news release announced Wednesday.

Students from Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, along with those from Washington, D.C., will qualify for the discount, launching in fall 2027.

Though the university has seen steady enrollment, the number of undergraduate degrees it awards has fallen in recent years. In 2020, the university awarded 4,701 undergraduate degrees. Five years later, that number dropped to 3,641, a decline of more than 22%.

University leaders hope that the new discount will increase retention, according to the announcement.

“This new tuition rate strengthens our commitment to access and opportunity,” Towson President Mark Ginsberg said in a statement. “TU’s exceptional education should not be limited by state borders.”

Out-of-state students from the mid-Atlantic region will now be charged $20,680 in tuition and fees per year, rather than the regular out-of-state rate of $32,948. Tuition and fees for in-state students stand at $12,690.

Towson, which last fall educated nearly 20,000 students, is one of the largest universities in Maryland. Last year there were just over 16,000 undergraduate students and 3,300 graduate students.

Towson joins a few other Maryland universities in offering regional tuition rates, though the public university’s deal is the most far-reaching. It comes as colleges across the country face a trend of declining enrollment. Nationwide, there are already 2.3 million fewer college students than there were in 2010, and a drop in the birth rate that began during the 2008 recession means the downward trend is likely to continue.

Frostburg State University also offers a regional tuition discount, though it targets fewer students. To earn a regional tuition discount at Western Maryland’s public university, students must be from West Virginia, Pennsylvania or select counties in northern Virginia, eastern Ohio and southern New York.

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore also offers a regional tuition discount for students hailing from Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

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