The piece on Penn State's state funding, "PSU receives lowest funding" July 28, was very friendly to the tuition-hike friendly administration. Why might Penn State receive less funding, per student, than other state-related universities?

An enormous institution like Penn State should be able to educate students cheaper than the other referenced "public" universities. Secondly, the depressed cost of living makes every dollar go farther in State College, so unadjusted per-student comparisons are doubly suspicious. Third, the unchecked growth and over-enrollment at Penn State means the low per-student appropriations add up to a larger and larger windfall than any other university. With respect to the 20 percent over-enrollment, even the state government seems to be cautioning President Graham Spanier that he needs to stop building his fiefdom and driving the quality of education down for each student. Since when has the Collegian been deputized into the administration's spin department?