There's always that day when the mail comes and you find the semester tuition bill. It isn't a particularly fun day, as you try to figure out how the tuition will be paid: by loans, by parents or perhaps by working various jobs that leave you no extra time to study for the education you are paying for in the first place.

For Penn State students, tuition increases have proven to be a persistent problem that administration officials are trying to rectify.

Tomorrow, Penn State President Graham Spanier will appear in Harrisburg to lobby for a 5.6 percent funding increase, which would restore state funding to the level it received for the 2001-02 academic year, thus keeping the yearly tuition increase at 5.8 percent.

However, state budgetary matters make that increase unlikely. In Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed budget, the Commonwealth would grant significantly less money than last year to the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, but hopes to make up the difference by projected federal Medicaid transfers.

While facing a tighter than expected budget if the proposed transfers are allowed, the budget would grow even tighter if these transfers are not allowed and could possibly affect the tuition of Penn State students.

Assuming the Medicaid transfers are permitted, the budget calls for an increase that does not meet Spanier's wishes.

While politicians continue to base their platforms on the importance of education, how, as our elected officials, can they leave the matter of college tuition on a "what if"?

Penn State students have seen their tuition skyrocket in the past four years, causing many to take out more loans or work while pursuing their academic endeavors.

Not all national-merit scholars come from a background where paying tuition is accomplished with a mere signature.

Students arriving at the University Park campus are far from stupid. Many were top students at their respective high schools, taking advanced or college level classes to challenge them and prepare them for the rigors of university academics.

But many of these dedicated students spend hours working outside jobs to pay for tuition.

It is impossible to say that students are going to work hours upon hours without it affecting some aspect of the student's life.

And in many cases, schoolwork is pushed aside to make room for things like sleep, food and human interaction.

If lawmakers in Harrisburg and Washington genuinely care about education, then they must stop the bickering.