A recent suggestion by USG officers that the university is planning a 13.5 percent tuition increase is patently false ("Senate discusses possible tuition rally," Nov. 15).

Although the USG official does not say where he came up with this number, it is not any number for a possible tuition increase that has been discussed by any budget official or administrator here at Penn State.

Penn State sets tuition levels after we learn what appropriation the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will provide each year.

There were five cuts in state funding earlier this decade that Penn State responded to with heavy internal budget cuts and higher tuition increases.

The good news is that state support went up this past year and our appropriation level has been restored to about the same level it was five years ago.

It is far too early for USG to throw up the white flag and assume more cuts in state funding are on the way.

Again, for the record, the only group talking about a 13.5 percent tuition increase for next year is USG.

Nobody in the administration has discussed such an idea.

We remain optimistic the governor and the state legislature will do everything possible over the next year to support Penn State students and their families with adequate funding to stem the tide of internal budget cuts and tuition increases.

As reported widely by the media, if next year's modest appropriation request is met by the state, Penn State projects a tuition increase of 3.8 percent at the commonwealth campuses and 4.8 percent at University Park.