At this month's Penn State Board of Trustees meeting, Penn State President Graham Spanier, in detailing the university's financial situation, stated that "Penn State continues to receive less funding per student than any other public university in Pennsylvania."

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said Spanier based this statement on the "most recently available data," which came from 2004-2005.

Though these numbers are from the 2004-2005 school year, "the disparity has remained steady over the last several years," Kendig said.

The numbers from 2004-2005 indicate Temple University received $5,550 per student and the University of Pittsburgh received $4,940 per student, while Penn State received $3,410 per student.

On the surface, the explanation for this is simple math. Enrollment is higher at Penn State than Temple University or the University of Pittsburgh, and the state does not have unlimited funds to allocate to these schools.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said this disparity does not reflect the agenda of any particular legislators or governor.

"This wasn't anybody setting out to deliberately give Penn State less money per student," Mahon said.

Mary Soderberg, Gov. Ed Rendell's executive deputy secretary of the budget, said some things outside the administration's control contribute to the difference in per-student appropriations.

The state government does not have "any means of controlling how many students a university accepts," Soderberg said. "Penn State made the decision to recruit more students through branch campuses and grow their enrollment."

Enrollment at University Park is on the rise. Spanier said in his opening remarks at this month's trustees meeting that Penn State was planning to admit 7,000 freshmen to University Park this fall.

"Yet we had more than 8,600 students send a deposit and say they were coming," he said.

Also outside the state government's control is the amount a university charges for tuition, Soderberg said.

"Penn State has the ability of increasing their tuition and students appear to be more willing to pay higher tuition than perhaps they would at [another university]," she said.

Penn State's total in-state tuition for 2006-2007 will be $11,646 for freshmen and sophomores, and $22,194 for out-of-state students

The University of Pittsburgh's in-state tuition will be $11,368; out-of-state students will pay $20,686.

Temple will charge $9,680 for in-state students and $17,724 for out-of-state students.