The recession does not seem to be reducing students' interest in applying to Penn State and other public universities, and a University official said the weak economy may create more competition for students among public institutions.

The University has received about the same number of admissions applications in each of the last two years, said Scott Healy, University director of admissions and assistant vice president. But Healy said other public colleges and universities across the nation are receiving more applications than they did last year.

According to a March 11 application report, the University received 26,952 applications for all campuses. As of March 11, 1990, the University had received 26,954, Healy said.

Still, the recession does seem to have made students wary about committing to an education here. "Even though we're keeping up as far as numbers are concerned, we have fewer people letting us know definitively whether or not they will be attending the University," Healy said, adding that more students this year than last are accepting admission offers but not paying deposits.

Healy said he thinks students are waiting to determine whether they will have enough money to enroll.

"This delay in response indicates to me that the recession is definitely making an impact at the University," Healy said.

Gregory Knight, University vice provost and dean for undergraduate education, said he thinks the recession and state budget cuts will not significantly hurt enrollment, and might actually create a more competitive climate among public institutions.

Knight said the recession could create a need for further recruiting efforts as more students look to attend public universities.

"In the past, institutions like Penn State were in a mode of selectivity where they were able to just sit back and wait for applications and pick the best of the crop," Knight said.

While public universities have raised tuition to make up for state funding gaps, private institutions are raising tuition because fewer students are attending private schools, said Scott Friedhoff, dean of admissions at Albright College in Reading, Pa.

"Because private institutions are solely tuition-driven, a decline in the number of applicants will directly result in an increase in tuition," he said.

Friedhoff said many private colleges and universities have experienced declines in applications similar to Albright's 5 percent drop. Villanova, a private university outside of Philadelphia, has suffered an 11 percent drop, he said.

State-funded institutions have generally not increased their tuition as much as private schools have, Bernard Vinovrski, director of admissions at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pa., said, explaining the public schools' relative popularity.

"State-funded institutions will fair much better than private institutions and will be healthy for the next decade," Vinovrski said.

The declining number of students graduating from high school may hurt both public and private universities' enrollments, Friedhoff said.

A study done at the University by the Office of Budget and Resource Analysis showed that in 1976 Pennsylvania had 190,000 high school graduates. By 1989, the state had just 139,000 high school graduates -- a 26 percent decline.

The study also projected a further decline in high school graduates to 115,000 in 1994 -- a 39 percent decrease since 1976.