Facing deep cuts in the school's appropriation, Penn State University trustees yesterday approved raising base in-state tuition on the main campus by up to 9.8 percent, or $1,280 a year, a decision one trustee called "heart-wrenching."

It is the more severe of two price plans for 2009-10 that the trustees authorized administrators to implement, depending on how Penn State fares in the commonwealth's final budget.

A less severe price plan, which raises the base in-state main campus rate by 4.5 percent, or $590 a year, would be imposed if a 13 percent appropriation cut facing the university is erased over the next seven days.

But as of late yesterday, there was little indication that any such budget breakthrough in Harrisburg would occur by then. Penn State says it can wait no more than a week because students need to be notified well in advance of the new fall rates.

The yearly base rate on Penn State's main campus for in-state freshmen and sophomores was $13,014 in 2008-09, and the worst-case plan approved yesterday would be the largest percentage increase since 2003-04.

Even with that higher tuition, Penn State faces tens of millions of dollars in cuts to its $3.7 billion operating budget and would need to lay off a quarter of the 800 employees who work around the state in cooperative extension and agriculture research, the university said.

In a presentation to trustees, who met on the New Kensington campus, Penn State President Graham Spanier called this year's budget challenges "unprecedented" in his or board members' lifetimes and said, "Even under the better-case scenario, it continues to shift the cost burden to students and their families."

In May, Penn State expected that federal stimulus money would enable the school with 93,000 students to offset a 6 percent cut in its appropriation for 2009-10. But last month, Gov. Ed Rendell proposed a deeper, 13 percent cut below the current funding level to help deal with the state's fiscal crisis.

The result, says Penn State, is a proposed appropriation that is 18 percent or $61 million less than the $338.4 million Penn State received in 2008-09 before mid-year cuts.

Mr. Rendell also proposed that Penn State and other state-related universities be excluded from receiving federal stimulus money. Asked why, he said those schools are not under the state's absolute control, citing as evidence rapidly rising tuitions on those campuses.

Dr. Spanier yesterday said the governor's remarks "make for great sound bites" but do not reflect reality.

"The main reason our tuition has gone up to the level it's gone up is our state appropriation has not even come close to keeping pace with inflation," he told the board.

Dr. Spanier chafed at "the notion that we run wild with our tuition only because of some lack of oversight," and he said the 14 state-owned universities receive a larger state appropriation than does Penn State, so it's no surprise their tuition increases are smaller.

"I think Abraham Lincoln would be rolling over in his grave," said Dr. Spanier, invoking the president who signed into law the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, which paved the way for land grant universities, including Penn State.

Under the more severe, 9.8 percent price plan, base out-of-state rates for freshmen and sophomores on the main University Park campus would increase by 7.9 percent or $1,920 a year. Under this scenario, in-state and out-of-state freshmen and sophomores attending commonwealth campuses would see a 4.9 percent increase, with the dollar amounts varying by campus.

Under the less severe scenario, out-of-state freshmen and sophomores on the main campus would see a base rate increase of 3.7 percent, or $886, per year. At commonwealth campuses, in-state and out-of-state freshmen and sophomores would see an increase of 3.9 percent per year.

Other students pay varying rates depending on their class year and course of study.

Penn State said if a favorable budget resolution is reached later this summer or fall, it could modify the tuition increases downward for the spring semester.

Asked about Dr. Spanier's comments, Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said other schools get more funding than the state-related schools because "they do a more credible job of holding down tuition."

He suggested that if those schools want to regain the $42 million in stimulus aid they once were slated to share, they must do more than what Penn State showed yesterday. "I think a nearly 10 percent increase in tuition does not imply frugality," Mr. Ardo said.

Cynthia Baldwin, a Penn State trustee and immediate past chair, said she and other board members found yesterday's tuition vote and its potential impact on student finances "heart-wrenching."

"I'm all for access to quality education," she said. "That's how I got my education."

Penn State New Kensington senior Ben Smith, 21, of Kittanning, said he worries for students already saddled with debt. "Some of our students already work two or three jobs," said Mr. Smith, president of the campus student government association. "The [increase] may put an extra stress on them that they cannot bear."