University officials lobbied members of the state Senate Appropriations Committee at the budget hearings in Harrisburg yesterday -- pressing for $20 million more than the University received for 1993-94.

In the plush surroundings of the Senate majority caucus room in the Capitol, University President Joab Thomas made Penn State's case for the money, emphasizing the University's contributions to the state as well as meeting its land-grant mission of teaching, research and service.

"We obviously could do even better if we had more resources," he said.

In September, the University Board of Trustees approved a request for about $279 million in state funding, money which includes making a tuition challenge grant permanent and a special $4.5 million line item for telecommunications.

The University must keep tuition hikes below 4.5 percent in order to receive roughly $9 million from the tuition challenge grant.

In-state tuition will probably increase by 4 percent this year. Last year, it increased by 4.5 percent and out-of-state tuition rose by 5.5 percent.

Gov. Robert P. Casey has proposed allocating more than $268 million for the University for 1994-95, which includes the grant.

Sen. J. Doyle Corman, R-Centre, questioned if the tuition challenge grant was working.

"The idea obviously achieves its purpose," Thomas said. "No university is going to turn down $9 million."

The grant brought the University about $9.9 million last year and may total about $9.3 million this year. The exact amount of this year's grant will depend on University enrollment.

During the one-hour question and answer session, several state senators sat around a crescent table to hear the University's reasons for wanting more money as well as information about the University's Hershey Medical Center and Research Park.

But the first question Thomas had to answer involved money the University wasn't requesting.

Sen. Raphael Musto, environment resources and energy committee chairman, asked why the University wasn't asking for appropriations to fund costs for meeting the state's environmental laws involving the clean air act and waste disposal.

These laws are not paid for by the government and the University has not asked for any extra money. "The problem is not going away," Musto said.

Thomas said although environmental problems are a high priority with the University, the costs remain significant.

"The only reason we didn't put that badly needed funding into that request is that we were trying to be reasonable in our request," he said.

Paying for unfunded governmental mandates, including environmental ones, has cost the University about $53 million during the past three years, Thomas estimated. Underground storage tanks run about $100,000 a year.

The money is drawn from educational and general funds. "These are very, very real costs for us," he said.