Lisa Rastede broke down the day she discovered season football tickets for the student section were sold out.

Rastede (sophomore-chemistry) said she was out of town when the letter from Penn State's Athletic Department notifying students about ticket sales came to her house. When she finally returned home and read the letter, it was too late.

"As soon as I opened the letter, they were sold out," Rastede said. "I think I cried that day."

Rastede wasn't alone. About 21,000 student tickets sold out in 13 days, leaving many students who didn't purchase tickets in time disappointed and frustrated.

Rastede decided to look around for tickets this summer, talking to friends and checking postings on Web sites like LionConnection.com. She said she especially wanted tickets to the Homecoming Game against the University of Illinois on Oct. 21 - and for good reason.

"First of all, I'm from Illinois, and all my friends go to Illinois," Rastede said. "I'm the only one from Penn State and I want to rub it in their face we're just going to kick their butt."

To top it off, the day after the game is Rastede's 20th birthday.

"It would be a really good birthday present," she said.

Rastede said she was disappointed to find that the amount of money many ticket sellers were asking for was out of her price range. However, Rastede is glad she held out because she was later given a free Illinois ticket from a friend who couldn't go to the game.

Being out of the country was another disadvantage to some students.

Brittany Yorgey (senior-Spanish education) was studying abroad in Spain when her letter arrived and said she was "devastated" when she returned home and realized all tickets were sold out.

"I was completely shocked," Yorgey said, adding she expected to receive an e-mail reminder the week tickets went on sale, as was done in past years. "I definitely didn't expect them to sell out so quickly."

Luckily, Yorgey said she was able to buy tickets, at face value - $23 - to the first two home games from friends.

Ellen Arnold (sophomore-biobehavioral health) considers it a stroke of luck that she was able to buy a ticket for the University of Michigan game on Oct. 14 for only $90.

Although Arnold has season tickets, she wanted a ticket for her sister who lives in Minnesota and has never been to a Penn State football game.

Arnold said she placed a posting on LionConnection.com asking for tickets and got a response from a girl who only asked Arnold for $90 for her football ticket.

"I guess she didn't want to rip me off," Arnold said.

Jillian Sanderson (junior-English and psychology) recently decided to sell her junior ticket to the Michigan game because she has to go home and work that weekend.

Sanderson said she posted an advertisement on LionConnection.com on Sunday and within a few hours got her first offer - $150. She decided to sell her ticket to that first bidder because she considered it a generous offer.

"$150 for one ticket is almost as much as I paid for the entire season," she said.

Sanderson said she thinks her Michigan ticket could have sold for even more money if Penn State hadn't lost to Notre Dame and Ohio State.

"I think that it would have been higher, but I think because it's a night game everybody's still really excited about it," she said.