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<b>First Posted:</b> 11/22/2008<br><br>GENARO C. ARMAS Associated Press Writer
STATE COLLEGE &amp;mdash;  University plans to steer clear of higher-than-expected tuition increases to balance the books despite facing difficult budget decisions amid a worsening economy, school president Graham Spanier said Friday.

Penn State has an enrollment of 92,000, counting its 24 campuses statewide and online students. The Board of Trustees proposed increases for the 2009-10 school year of between 4.9 and 5.6 percent, depending on the campus, in its appropriations request to the state in September.
That same month, though, the state told the university that it would likely hold back $15 million of previously appropriated money for the current school year due to economic woes.
The university hasn&amp;rsquo;t had to increase tuition at midyear in large part to &amp;ldquo;defensive measures&amp;rdquo; and long-range planning, Spanier said Friday in addressing the trustees.
&amp;ldquo;We have, however, moderated our plans for new commitments and initiatives to ensure that we don&amp;rsquo;t exert additional pressure on an already tight budget situation,&amp;rdquo; Spanier said.
With prospects of a short-term recovery dim, the university is thinking ahead. Rising costs for fuel and other utilities are among the items that the university must account for amid lower appropriations, a reduced endowment and the credit crunch, Spanier said.
Trustees on Friday did approve an increase to room and board rates of about 5.8 percent, or about $225 per semester for the next academic year at all nine of the university&amp;rsquo;s residential campuses. The rate is lower than 6.8 percent increase approved last year.
But current and prospective students also face tightening family pocketbooks, especially at a university where the tuition for lower-division, in-state students is about $13,000 a year &amp;mdash; and almost double that for out-of-state students.
&amp;ldquo;We&amp;rsquo;re going to do everything we can to leave tuition in the same zone as it has been proposed (in September), and not used to balance the budget,&amp;rdquo; Spanier said during a break Friday.
&amp;ldquo;We would have to have an extraordinary tuition increase to get next year&amp;rsquo;s budget in balance if we wanted to follow through on that earlier plan,&amp;rdquo; he said. &amp;ldquo;We don&amp;rsquo;t think that would be possible or appropriate given the economic circumstances our students and families are facing.&amp;rdquo;
Instead, there may be significant cuts in other areas, including little or no salary increases. The schedules and financing on some new building projects may be delayed.
Overall though, the university&amp;rsquo;s &amp;ldquo;conservative fiscal practices and diversified assets&amp;rdquo; have the school well-positioned to weather the economic unrest, the school&amp;rsquo;s corporate controller said in a report.
The school also announced that Spanier and his wife, English professor Sandra Spanier, have made a new $700,000 philanthropic commitment, increasing their total commitment to $1 million.

Penn State mulls hiking tuition