"If we get too big, it starts to stress critical people support systems," he said.

John Romano, vice provost and dean for enrollment management, said Penn State attempts to maintain enrollment numbers between 40,000 and 42,000.

"[The numbers] have to do with the available facilities, number of faculty and staff, and how can [the university] accommodate that number on and off campus," he said. "We do everything possible to keep the number in that range."

Romano said the university attempts to calculate what the enrollment flow will look like and what the projections will be for each campus.

"We try to administrate these flows so we don't have too many students," he said.

University spokesman Tysen Kendig said Penn State has taken a hard look at the capacity of the University Park campus and believes it has the ideal number of students.

"We've got a record enrollment and are continuing to see a growing interest in the university," he said.

Although it seems class sizes would continue to grow, Kendig said students have not shown any concern.

"More and more students say they are surprised and enjoy the fact that class sizes are 20 or less when they get into their major concentrations," he said.

Wager said the university is working on a number of initiatives to regulate the number of incoming students, but the university does not have any plans to change or cap the number of students admitted.

"There are also places where we want to increase the amount of certain types of students, without increasing the number as a whole," he said. "There are certain target areas where we want to see increases, such as international students."

The university recently announced a marketing campaign to draw more students to Commonwealth Campuses instead of University Park as their first choice.

Wager and Romano do not anticipate the number of students surpassing the designated limit of 42,000.

Romano said there are forces that work within the world contributing to outcomes that are difficult to manage, such as the economy.

"When jobs aren't available, students decide to stay in school longer, causing an influx in students," he said.

Penn State has seen an increase in graduate studies, which the university believes is due to the current state of the economy, Romano said.

Also, there is an increase in applications the university receives from outside Pennsylvania, Romano said.

The university expects to see similar enrollment numbers next fall and summer compared to this year's, he said.

"[The university] has been successful with maintaining the appropriate numbers." Romano said.

Students had mixed feelings about increasing enrollment.

"I guess it's definitely a good thing," Lena Malcolm (junior-journalism) said. "It shows we're a very competitive school."

But, Gretchen Ketner (graduate-linguistics) asked, "It sounds like they are enrolling more students to get more tuition money. Why are they raising enrollment anyway?"

Melissa Hatch contributed to this report.