Gov. Ed Rendell delivered a budget address yesterday that announced a 19 percent boost in funding for student grants and more funding for Pennsylvania's mass transit as a top priority this year.

Rendell said the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) will invest more than $300 million in new funds for student grants over the next four years.

This comes after PHEAA announced last Thursday that it was providing $45 million for student grants for the 2005-06 academic year.

Rendell added that the commonwealth plans to invest $368 million in student grants.

This would be combined with an additional $63 million from PHEAA in the first year of their partnership.

"Hardworking families are pinching pennies to send their children to college," Rendell said in his address.

"We all know that student grants go a long way in making college affordable," he added.

PHEAA is also collaborating with the office of the governor to create a new program called Job Ready Pennsylvania.

This is a program designed to give financial assistance to adults who want to further their education.

The budget also called for a 10 percent boost, or $100 million from the state, in funding for the state's 14 community colleges.

This is the largest increase in 15 years.

Rendell spokesman Abe Amoros said that in the 1950s, a college education was not necessary for people to find a job; however, things have changed since then.

"This has really affected our competitiveness in Pennsylvania," said Amoros. "We want workers to improve their skills ... which will help stimulate local economy."

Rendell also said he is working with PHEAA to provide $10 million for the next four years to train more registered nurses.

In his address, the governor said by 2010, Pennsylvania would lack 16,000 nurses because nursing schools do not have enough teachers and space available to train them. "We hope to put 8,000 nursing graduates to work in health care facilities across the Commonwealth each year," Rendell said.

The governor also focused on mass transit issues in his address, saying that the state must continue to create jobs for Pennsylvania workers, some of whom rely on a mass transit service on a daily basis.

"Our mass transit is in crisis, and if we continue to ignore it, we will have effectively stranded hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens who depend on buses, subways and commuter train to get to work each day," Rendell said.

He added that smaller cities in Pennsylvania, like State College, which have over one million riders per year, are not exempt from the problem.

Hugh Mose, general manager of Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA), said he was pleased with the governor's request because for the past three years, operating costs have increased while state funding has decreased.

"That's excellent," Mose said.

"Now if words could be turned into money, everyone here at CATA would be breathing a little easier," he said. "The governor used the word 'crisis' and that is certainly a good description of our funding situation."

Mose added that because CATA is the third largest transit system in the state in terms of passengers carried, he appreciated the governor's attention to their financial problem.

Amoros said that by law the legislature has until midnight on June 30 to discuss and approve the governor's proposed budget.

"Hearings are possible. There may be lots of arguments as to why these things should be passed," he said.

"It's a very reasonable budget considering the restrictions the federal government has placed on us," he said.