Pennsylvania’s state universities are inching closer to becoming the most expensive in the nation, according to a report released last week.

New data from the College Board, a private nonprofit organization created to increase access to higher education, shows that the costs of Pennsylvania’s public universities have risen in recent consecutive years. The cost of tuition for Pennsylvania residents attending Point Park University is consistent with those prices.

The data was collected for the College Board’s annual “Trends in College Pricing” report. The College Board found that the in-state tuition cost for Pennsylvania’s public universities was $13,884. The rate indicates a 4 percent raise in one year, and a 15 percent raise over the past five years.

Only two states have higher average tuition costs – Vermont at $15,450 and New Hampshire at $15,650. The three states have been the costliest for in-state tuitions for several years, though Pennsylvania has traditionally trailed the two by well over $1,000. This past year, the gap between Pennsylvania and Vermont was shortened by $28.

Pennsylvania’s combined cost of in-state tuition and additional fees are 44 percent higher than the national average of $9,650.

Part of Pennsylvania’s high tuition costs lies in the lack of higher education funding from the state government itself. Pennsylvania funded public universities to the tune of $106.8 billion last year, but it was the fifth consecutive year where funding for higher education has decreased, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The data in the College Board’s report this year includes figures from the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University, Temple University and all of the 14 state-owned schools in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. Those schools include Slippery Rock University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, among others.

The University of Pittsburgh’s average in-state tuition cost in 2016 was $18,618, according to CollegeData. Penn State University Park’s in-state cost averaged out to $17,900. Both of those numbers do not include room and board costs or other student fees. Penn State University Park is the highest costing flagship public university in the United States, according to the College Board report.

Point Park University’s cost of tuition for students for the 2015-16 school year was $13,890, with an additional $1,250 in “required fees”. Total room and board costs at the university were $10,840 in the same year. The costs of Point Park, a private institution, were not included in the College Board’s data set.

Pennsylvania fares better nationally for the total in-state cost of its two-year universities, though the figures are still the nation’s seventh most expensive in that category. More worrisome, the in-state cost of Pennsylvania’s two-year schools has experienced a 31 percent hike in costs in the past five years.

This all comes as Pennsylvania’s public universities are experiencing a decline in attendance by in-state residents. Last year, 77 percent of first time students at public four-year universities claimed residence in the state, down six percent since 2004.