The state budget crisis may mean the end of a decades-old program that provided some of the state's most promising high school students intensive summer study in the arts and sciences, all free of charge.

Officials with the Rendell administration say next year's proposed state budget, to be unveiled today in Harrisburg, does not include funding for the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence.

Founded in 1973, the program's 19,000 alumni have left their mark in fields from medicine to entertainment, and they include notable figures such as Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron J. Kernis, actor Kevin Bacon and best-selling author Alice Sebold.

Selected from a highly competitive process similar to applying for college, the students spend five weeks at one of the program's eight schools. Each school specializes in an area of study and is hosted on a different college campus in the state.

Tuition, room and board are covered by the program, which costs the state $3.2 million.

Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for the governor, said Mr. Rendell does not dispute the program's value but said the recession and resulting state deficit are pitting many such worthy programs against vital human services.

"There are programs, no matter how dear to the heart of the governor, that just can't be rationalized in this economy," Mr. Ardo said. "Clearly our budget priorities need to fall on the side of necessary human services."

Saying it's unlikely that another source of funding will be found, Mr. Ardo said the program is dead at least for now. He said the governor would like to see it reinstated once the economy improves.

The eight Governor's Schools and their host campuses include: agricultural sciences, Penn State University; arts, Mercyhurst College; global entrepreneurship, Lehigh University; health care, the University of Pittsburgh; information, society and technology, Drexel University; international studies, University of Pittsburgh; sciences, Carnegie Mellon University; and teaching, Millersville University.

Collectively, the schools receive anywhere from 3,600 to 4,100 applicants for the 752 seats available.

Officials with some of the schools yesterday said they found it hard to believe the program was being discontinued as the state and nation face growing pressure to train skilled workers.

"It's shocking and very shortsighted in an age when the United States is falling behind in the global marketplace," said Barry Luokkala, program director of the Governor's School for Sciences, held in July at Carnegie Mellon.

Dr. Luokkala, a physics professor, said he's received scores of e-mails from outraged alumni as word began trickling out that the program's funding was in jeopardy.

On his campus, students engage in study and research in various disciplines, including physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and mathematics. The hallmark is a research project in which teams of six to eight students work under the supervision of a faculty member.

More than 500 applicants vie for the 100 available seats at his campus' program. The Governor's Schools are typically for rising seniors, though in some programs rising juniors are admitted, he said.

Douglas Woods, program director of the school for arts, said students at Mercyhurst are trained not only as future performers and audience members, but also are shown the importance both of advocating for the arts and of being participatory citizens.

"That might be the most important thing we do," he said.