The University's Center for the Performing Arts received a $5,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, one of 622 given this year for the 1992 fiscal year.

Penn State's grant will support the 1993-94 season.

Twenty-five of the 622 grants were awarded to educational institutions, with only four other Big Ten schools -- Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio State -- receiving the grant.

"It's highly competitive," said Ken Foster, director for the Center for the Performing Arts. "(It's) recognition of the programs we do . . . presenting culturally diverse work, excellent performers and commissioning. In the arts, we're a winning football team."

The original request for this year's grant, $20,000, was not awarded.

"There's a tendency for people to say 'Oh, they're a big university. They have lots of money,' " Foster said. "That's just not true."

With a budget of $1.8 million, CFPA receives only $600,000 from the University, virtually all of which is staff salaries. The remaining $1.2 million is acquired through fundraising and ticket sales.

Other universities receive larger grants, but Foster said the reason is unclear.

University of Kansas, for example, received between $7-10,000, yet its program is not noticeably better, Foster said.

"The longer we're in and the more we establish ourselves, the more likely we'll get a larger grant," Foster said.

But although the Reagan administration made efforts to squelch the NEA, a new president may also affect funding.

"If Perot is elected, my guess is that it would be one of the first programs to be eliminated," Foster said. "He sees it as a frill."

Though Foster said the NEA could "wither away" under Bush, Clinton could boost program morale. However, funding would not drastically increase, he said.

Because Palmer Museum of Art will not open until next year, they did not apply for a grant. But the department will apply next year, said Mary Linda, the museum's assistant director.

While the CFPA has only applied for the grant for the last five years, this is the fourth grant the NEA has awarded them.

Foster rejected a grant for the 1990-91 season due to an obscenity clause that he refused to sign. The clause was later found unconstitutional.