Penn State students and their supporters protest Tuesday at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. Students and education advocates from around Pennsylvania showed their displeasure with Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed funding cuts for public schools and universities.

HARRISBURG — Lobbyists and legislators had to squeeze through the corridors and doorways of the Capitol on Tuesday as students and education advocates flooded the building to protest Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed funding cuts for public schools and universities.

They came from every corner of Pennsylvania, it seemed — parents, grandparents, students and more prowling the tiled hallways to get face time with legislators or at least hand them a packet of information or calling cards before joining one of several rallies. At Penn State’s rally, a couple hundred students and alumni crowded into the Capitol Rotunda and ended with an ear-splitting “We are ... Penn State!”

“We know they definitely hear us, we just hope they’re listening,” said Justin Menapace, a 20-year-old junior from Philadelphia at Penn State’s main campus.

The budget plan Corbett unveiled on March 8 would attempt to address a projected $4 billion recession-driven deficit without raising taxes and would demand such large cuts from public schools and universities that few, if any, legislators have embraced it.

All told, Corbett’s plan would cut more than $1.6 billion from schools and universities, including a 50 percent cut to the 14 universities that make up the State System of Higher Education, including Slippery Rock, as well as Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln.

Speaking to Pitt students and supporters in the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday, Pitt’s chancellor, Mark Nordenberg, called the proposed cuts “stunningly deep,” disproportionate and potentially damaging to the dreams of students and Pennsylvania’s efforts to compete in a knowledge-based economy.

Republicans who control the Legislature say they expect their counterproposal to Corbett will ease some of the universities’ pain. However, Corbett and his fellow Republicans are trying to plug the budget hole without raising taxes, and it’s not clear where they’ll find the additional money to make a significant dent in Corbett’s cuts.

Corbett took a pledge during his campaign not to raise taxes once he became governor, and he is even proposing to cut corporate taxes by hundreds of millions of dollars this year.

Some Republicans have raised the idea of cracking down on what they call fraud, waste and abuse in public welfare programs and using the savings to restore some of the education funding cuts proposed by Corbett. Democrats counter that there’s not as much savings to be found as Republicans think.