"I can only imagine what kids might be feeling who don't have the privilege of having tuition paid for by their parents," Friedman said. "I wish they could be helped more."

Don Heller, associate professor of education, said rising tuition rates at Penn State are directly the result of cuts in the state appropriation.

Penn State has suffered from cuts in state funding totaling $50 million. In July, the state House approved an appropriations bill reducing university funding by another 5 percent. The bill is not finalized because the state Senate and Gov. Ed Rendell have yet to consider the bill.

However, other factors play a role in tuition increases nationwide, Heller said.

"The reason why, in the long run, we've seen tuition increase faster than inflation is the lack of productivity growth in higher education," Heller said. "We haven't found ways to make higher education more productive like we have in other sectors of the economy."

Heller said costs would continue to escalate as long as colleges and universities rely heavily on being labor intensive, where faculty are used as opposed to technology. The university could be more productive by increasing the student to faculty ratio or using technology -- such as online classes -- to teach a larger number of students, he said.

"There are few opportunities to cut costs without affecting the quality of the instruction of students," Heller said. "What we've come to realize is that there needs to be a lot of interaction between the faculty and the student, and that tends to be very expensive."

Cheryl Fields, spokeswoman for the National Association of State Universities and Land-grant Colleges (NASULGC), of which Penn State is a member, said colleges and universities can cut costs internally, but cannot control the costs that drive their prices -- including health insurance, utility bills and food services.

Fields said NASULGC has asked colleges and universities to explain the cause of tuition hikes.

"It's overwhelmingly that they are suffering declines in state appropriations, so they have to make it up by raising tuition," she said.

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said tuition would continue to increase nationwide if states continue to reduce funding.

"The problem is no secret," Kendig said. "The question becomes finding ways to increase state support for public higher education, so that we don't need to turn to tuition as a last resort to maintain our educational quality."

A second survey conducted by the College Board reported a 15 percent increase in student aid, which reached $105 billion in 2002-03.

Anna Griswold, assistant vice provost for enrollment management and student aid, said 76 percent of undergraduates at Penn State received financial aid in 2001-02 and 77 percent received aid in 2002-03.

The average student aid recipient at Penn State receives about $7,000 in federal aid, she said.

But Friedman said students who cannot afford to pay tuition can not necessarily depend on financial aid to get through school.

"I don't feel that [financial aid] is as easy to obtain as how they boast," Friedman said. "Many students have to work to afford to go here."