Penn State President Graham Spanier will travel to the state Capitol today for a House Appropriations Committee hearing in an effort to increase funding for Penn State for the upcoming academic year.

Rep. Brett Feese, R-Lycoming, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said the final appropriation given to Penn State would be the result of negotiations between the state House of Representatives, the state Senate and the governor.

Gov. Ed Rendell proposed an appropriation on Feb. 8 of $322.4 million for Penn State next year.

In September 2005, the Penn State Board of Trustees proposed a tuition freeze for 20 of Penn State's 23 Commonwealth Campuses, not including University Park.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said Rendell's proposed appropriation would be a 3.3 percent increase over last year's appropriation, adding that the freeze "won't be possible if we get a 3.3 percent increase."

Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG) President Kathleen Streaker said she would be attending today's hearing along with two other leaders of CCSG, and that some student government presidents from Commonwealth Campuses may attend as well.

"What we're trying to focus on now is talking to the legislators and seeing if they can increase [appropriations] a little more," she said, adding that she was not optimistic about a tuition freeze for the coming academic year. "We would still like to see the appropriations go up so that everybody's tuition stays lower, even students at University Park."

Most student governments at Commonwealth Campuses have a governmental affairs director who corresponds with local legislators over the appropriations, Streaker said.

"The students there are constituents, so they have more pull with the legislators," she said.

Mahon said it is important for Spanier to go to Harrisburg to address the issue of appropriations.

"Students and their families have been asked to shoulder large parts of the burden of a public education," Mahon said, adding that less than 10 percent of Penn State's budget currently comes from state appropriations. "We've done everything possible to tighten our belts at Penn State without hurting quality."

Spanier was unavailable for comment by press time yesterday.

The university's annual budget process begins each year at the trustees meeting in September, when they establish a budget for the coming fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30.

Each year, after the governor proposes an appropriation to Penn State, Spanier appears in a hearing before the state Legislature to try to increase funding for areas that the administration deems important.

Feese said Spanier would begin the hearing today by presenting a prepared statement to the committee about Penn State's budget. Committee members will then be able to ask Spanier questions.

Today's House Appropriations Committee hearing will be followed by another hearing -- this time in front of the state Senate Appropriations Committee -- on Tuesday. Leaders from the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University will lobby alongside Spanier in a hearing for funding for state-related schools.