At 8 a.m., while most students are sitting in class or sleeping, Alex Verget will be walking.

But he won't be walking around campus or even anywhere in Centre County. He'll be beginning a 90-mile, week-long journey from the State Capitol Building in Harrisburg to Old Main in order to protest Penn State's high tuition.

"Penn State was founded as a land grant institution to provide regular Pennsylvania citizens with an education," Verget (senior-philosophy) said. "The current tuition rates clearly show how Penn State is failing that principle."

Tuition and required fees for in-state freshmen and sophomores at University Park were $12,164 for the 2006-2007 academic year. Verget thinks it would be reasonable to lower tuition to about $8,000 or $9,000 per year.

Tuition for the 2007-2008 academic year will be determined at the July Board of Trustees meeting.

Verget plans to walk about 15 miles a day -- mostly along Route 322 -- and arrive in State College on Saturday. At night, he plans to stay with acquaintances or in hotels or motels. If he can't find a place to sleep, a friend will pick him up at an exit and drive him back to State College to sleep and then drop him off at that exit the next day.

He said he hopes his walk will bring more statewide attention to the tuition situation at Penn State.

"We have so much debt, we're going out in the workforce with less buying power initially," he said. "We have an exorbitant amount of debt that forces many students to leave the state of Pennsylvania in search of better paying jobs."

Another purpose of the walk is to encourage students to attend the Rally For Change, a rally about lowering tuition that will take place at noon on April 24 in front of Old Main. Verget thinks this rally, which he created, will be better attended than the Rally in the Rotunda, an annual student rally that took place on March 20 in the state Rotunda this year.

"I think a lot of people use the Rally in the Rotunda to point towards student apathy, but I don't think that's true," he said. "A lot of people care about tuition and how much the administration is charging them."

He said the logistics of the Rally in the Rotunda, such as the fact that it's 90 miles away, make it difficult for students to attend.

Verget's original plan was to walk from State College to the Rally in the Rotunda, but after that fell through, he reversed the route.

"I think it's an even better idea to walk from Harrisburg to here because now we're putting our concerns about tuition on the administration's table," said Amber Cesareo, a member of the Public Issues Action Committee, which is helping organize the Rally For Change. "Since everyone couldn't necessarily take the walk with him, the rally is as if everyone is joining him for his walk."

Verget said his studies in religion and social activism were part of his inspiration for the walk. The walk will be a part of his senior capstone project for his philosophy degree.

University Park Undergraduate Association President Jay Chamberlin said Verget's walk is an interesting idea, but he's not sure how much of an impact it will have.

Chamberlin said he "it will do a decent job of raising people's awareness," but he doesn't know how effective it will be in "overall scheme of things."

Verget said he first started looking into the trip in October, and in the past month, he's been walking about two miles to and from campus to prepare. Although Verget will have to make up the work he'll miss from this week's classes, he thinks the walk will be worth it.

"I'm a graduating senior," he said. "I've pretty much fulfilled all my obligations and I'd like to bring some change to Penn State before I leave."