STATE COLLEGE — Trustees of Penn State University are discussing whether to lower next year's projected tuition increases in response to concerns about how the recession has affected students and their families.

The trustees earlier had approved a projected 5.5 percent tuition increase for students at the main University Park campus, and a 4.9 percent increase for students at all other campuses.

At a meeting Friday in Hershey, trustees said they were considering reducing those increases, which would take effect for the 2009-10 school year, by at least 1 percent.

They said the amount will depend on how much state funding the university receives and other economic factors that emerge between now and when tuition is set at the July board meeting.

"Given the difficult circumstances many of our students and their families are facing, if we could, we would propose no tuition increase whatsoever," Penn State president Graham Spanier said in prepared remarks to the trustees.

"But if we were to take this measure, we would add an additional shortfall of millions of dollars," he added.

Administrators and students have also voiced concern over an aid proposal by Gov. Ed Rendell to help in-state students who attend any of the 14 state-owned universities or the 14 community colleges but excludes Penn State and other state-related institutions.