Despite lip service to the contrary, higher education is not a priority of Pennsylvania's government.

Gov. Tom Ridge may propose cleverly titled initiatives like "Brain Gain" to retain college students in Pennsylvania after they graduate, but this proposal will do nothing to help students graduate in the first place. To truly improve and retain Pennsylvania's intellectual future, Ridge and his associates are going to need to put up some cash.

The amount of funding granted to Penn State by the state Legislature, adjusted for inflation, has been consecutively decreasing since 1971. And this year's proposed budget isn't looking any better.

If the trend of decreased funding continues, Penn State will not be able to live up to its duty as a land grant institution — to guarantee that anyone who can benefit from an education has access to one.

Higher education is a virtual necessity in today's job market, but more and more students are finding that even Penn State, a public land grant school and the largest public university in the state, is out of their price range. Students can only take on so many part-time jobs and student loans before the burden becomes too great and they throw in the towel.

Penn State is losing students because they can't afford to go here. According to Penn State's Non-Returning Students Report for Spring 1998 to Fall 1998, 29 percent of University Park students and 21 percent of Commonwealth Campus students found more affordable education elsewhere. In short, more than a quarter of those students who left that year did so because they simply couldn't pay for it.

No wonder. The University of Pittsburgh and Temple each receive more money per student than Penn State. The state gives Temple $6,350 per student, Pitt $4,820 per student, and Penn State chimes in with just $3,320 per student. The per-student amount given to Penn State is $1,440 below the Pennsylvania state-owned school average, according to information provided by the Office for Student Affairs.

In addition, Penn State receives the least state funding per student in the Big Ten. How can we compete with universities like Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, who are appropriated nearly twice as much per student in some cases?

Penn State brings Pennsylvania prestige and money because of our outstanding athletic teams, top-notch academic research and first-rate workforce training. Now Pennsylvania must return the favor by issuing us per-student funding that is on par with other public Pennsylvania schools and other schools in the Big Ten. If they don't, the whole state will lose in the end.

Perhaps the state's finance committee should be spending its time searching for ways to support cash-strapped Penn State students instead of wasting time and effort listening to rambling videotaped testimony from the likes of state Rep. John Lawless, R-Montgomery. Lawless believes that a $50 student-funded Sex Faire is justification to deny all Penn State students tuition relief.

If state legislators refuse to recognize our legitimate pleas for reasonable funding at the appropriations hearings in Harrisburg next week, we will remember that when elections roll around and it's time to decide whether we should put our education to use in Pennsylvania or elsewhere.