The state higher education system is following through on a pledge to keep the upcoming tuition rate hike close to the inflation rate.

A 3 percent tuition hike for the 2012-13 school year was approved by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education's Board of Governors on Monday.

That's $94 per semester, or $188 per year.

And it's less than half the 7.5 percent hike students experienced last school year, said system spokesman Kenn Marshall.

The state system has 14 universities, including Millersville. In-state tuition last year at the state schools was $6,240, the lowest among four-year colleges in Pennsylvania. A 3 percent hike would bring that to $6,428.

Gov. Tom Corbett had proposed cutting those universities funding 20 percent this year, after they absorbed a funding cut of 18 percent last year.

But lawmakers came to an agreement to flat fund the state system, helping to hold off a major tuition spike.

Marshall said another major funding cut most definitely would have led to higher tuition.

"It's not a large increase. We try very hard to keep those increases as low as possible," he said.

It's the fifth time in eight years their tuition increase has been at or below the inflation rate.

- Reach Andrew Shaw at ashaw@yorkdispatch.com