Penn State student tickets for the September 8 clash at Heinz Field between the Nittany Lions and the Pitt Panthers are quite expensive — and you’re right to grumble about that. In 2016, Penn State students paid $95 to catch the game in Pittsburgh.

This season, Penn State students will pay $140. So what’s with the sudden increase in prices, especially in a low-inflation environment? Simply put, we don’t know.

According to Penn State Athletics, “The home school sets ticket prices, which is why they are different for different road games.”

In other words, Penn State Athletics doesn’t have any direct say in how much its students pay for away games. So, maybe Pitt is jacking up prices for Penn State students in an attempt to keep the Nittany Lion fans out of Heinz Field?

When asked about what factors go into the pricing of student tickets from opposing schools, the Pitt ticket office said the following: “Pitt does not provide special pricing for visiting student tickets. However, as an example, when Pitt played at PSU last year, Pitt actually subsidized the cost of the ticket for our students in order to provide a more affordable option. (There was not a visiting student-priced ticket from PSU.)”

Pitt seems to have chosen the $140 figure from either the single-game ticket prices — which you can find here — and Penn State provided a subsidy, or Pitt matched the price for season tickets at $140. In this sense, Pitt did not provide any “special pricing” for Penn State students.

Still, Georgia Tech student tickets to see Pitt play cost just $32. Super Bowl tickets never come cheap.

If you’re feeling particularly upset that paying for a single away game ticket is costing you about three home games’ worth, you’ll just have to scream at the football gods.

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