Penn State officials say legislation in the state General Assembly that would cap government spending could drastically cut the university's appropriations and force students to foot the bill.

The "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" constitutional amendment and similar legislation would tie state spending increases to changes in inflation, population and the consumer price index.

At Friday's Board of Trustees meeting, Penn State President Graham Spanier said he was concerned the legislation would have an adverse affect on public higher education.

"In other states where such legislation has been enacted, higher education has suffered," Spanier said.

Different versions of the spending-cap bill have passed in the state House and Senate, but the differences must be resolved before the bill is sent to Gov. Ed Rendell.

At the meeting, Spanier presented a letter to state House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, in which he cited the University of Colorado as an example of tuition increasing by 50.6 percent in two years following similar legislation.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said it's not easy to say if the legislation could cause similar tuition increases at Penn State.

"It depends on a lot of different things," he said. "But it's a very scary possibility that we could face even more severe cuts in the future."

Mahon said the legislation could take state funds away from the university and put Penn State in jeopardy every year, depending on how much money is available.

"It could have a real detrimental impact on every Penn State student and their family," he said. "We could be talking about cuts of tens and tens of millions of dollars."

Mahon said the cap would hurt the university more because it is already receiving so little funding from the state. Penn State requested $334.8 million for the 2005-06 year and received $323.6 million in appropriations.

"Even if we were funded the average of other Pennsylvania institutions, we'd have concerns about this," he said. "But we're not in that zone; we're at the bottom of the barrel already."

Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, said he supports the spending-cap legislation as a way to limit government spending.

"It's just constraining the growth of government spending equivalent to the cost of living," Benninghoff said. "I think what we're asking government to do is try to keep a lid on things, don't be spending more, so you don't have to keep asking more of the taxpayers."

Benninghoff added that he thinks there have been incorrect notions about what the legislation would actually do to higher education funding.

"It does not reduce the amount of money that someone would have been funded in the previous budget," he said. "There's just going to be some control; they're going to have to reallocate some spending."

Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, said he voted for the legislation because it would put a spending restraint on state government.

"Although it could become problematic someday, it would put fiscal discipline on us," Corman said.

Corman added that he understands why people in higher education are worried about the legislation.

"If we're only allowed to spend so much, that means that the competition for those dollars is going to be even greater," he said. "It could be very competitive to get those limited dollars."

Rendell spokesman Abe Amoros said Rendell has not yet decided how he will act if the legislation is sent to him.

"We have to take a wait-and-see approach," Amoros said. "The House and the Senate have not come up with places they're going to cut yet."