HARRISBURG — Students at Slippery Rock University and Pennsylvania's 13 other state-owned universities will see an average tuition increase of nearly 3 percent this school year under new rates approved Thursday by the schools' governing board.

The tuition at the State System of Higher Education schools will increase by 2.75 percent. Under the new rate, full-time undergraduate students who are Pennsylvania residents would pay $5,177 for the year, an increase of $139.

Tuition for out-of-state students varies, depending on factors such as the university they attend and their major. It will range from $7,766 to $12,944 a year for undergraduates in 2007-08.

The board also approved increasing the technology fee to $175 per year for resident students and $264 for nonresidents.

SRU has about 8,000 students.

The board's three student representatives advocated a 3 percent tuition increase, citing concerns about spending cuts the universities have had to make in recent years to help the system balance its budget.

But board member Joshua O'Brien, a Bloomsburg University senior, withdrew that proposal after other members recommended a higher technology fee as a compromise.

The state's educational and general subsidy to the universities is going up 3.5 percent to nearly $484 million under the state budget Gov. Ed Rendell signed Tuesday. That is about $12 million less than what the system had requested.

That will mean each state school will need to cut about $1 million this year, according to Kenn Marshall, spokesman for the state system.

Constance Foley, SRU vice president of student life, said this morning she's not sure of the exact effects the tuition rate will have on the SRU budget, but she doesn't see much reason to worry.

"(President Robert Smith) gave staff members several models of the budget based on different tuition numbers," she said.

The accounting staff estimates were conservative in those models, she said.

"I haven't heard anyone panic about the budget," she said.

On a positive note, SRU enrollment projections for fall are expected to be larger than anticipated, she said.

The other state system schools are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, and West Chester universities.