Starting this fall, Pennsylvanians will pay $181 more for a year's undergraduate tuition at any of the 14 state-owned universities.

In one respect, it's more sour news in a state with public college prices that are already among the most expensive.

But the 3.5 percent increase for 2008-09 also marks the fourth straight year the State System of Higher Education has kept tuition hikes at or below the rate of inflation. The increase, approved yesterday, brings the base yearly tuition to $5,358 at the 14 schools including California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock universities in Western Pennsylvania.

By curbing increases since 2005, the State System is offering its 110,000 students price relief not seen at the state-related University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University. At those two schools, the region's largest, main base tuition increases far outpaced inflation much of the past decade, rising in a single year by as much as 14 percent.

Prices there were on the march again last week, rising for 2008-09 by 6 percent at Pitt, to $12,832, and by 5.9 percent at Penn State, to $13,014.

Officials at both schools say lagging state support continues to make it hard to control costs on their complex research campuses. This year's state General Fund increases of 1.2 percent for Penn State and 1.5 percent for Pitt are less than both the 3 percent increase awarded the State System and a 4 percent overall increase in state spending.

The situation "puts us at a disadvantage as we compete with more generously funded public research universities in other states," Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said as trustees there set the new rate.

Some who follow issues of cost and access are of two minds about Pennsylvania's latest price trends -- heartened on the one hand that State System increases have slowed, but also troubled by the price disparity now separating the system schools from state-related schools including Pitt and Penn State.

In 1998, roughly $2,400 separated yearly tuition charged by the State System from the base main campus rate at Pitt or Penn State. The difference now exceeds $7,400.

"I think it's a big problem that the gap between the two sectors is growing as fast as it has," said Joni Finney, policy analyst and vice president of the San Jose, Calif.-based National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "It makes it more difficult for low income students who are well prepared to enroll at those institutions."

In other states, similar price gaps now separate the more elite public schools from their peers, Dr. Finney said. Absent a consensus on what share of a public campus education ought to be borne by governments, versus families, some universities most in demand are charging what the market will bear, she said.

Dr. Finney said there is blame on all sides, from schools to governments. But no matter who is at fault, the result is lost opportunity for students capable of handling whatever is required of them on an elite research campus -- except the price.

"Do we want to have a [public] higher education system segregated by income? Is that good for the educational experience we're offering students?" she said. "I think that's sort of where we're moving."

The new State System tuition does not reflect other costs. Including a $6 technology fee increase approved yesterday, total in-state charges for tuition, required fees, and room and board will average about $13,000.

Still, the smaller tuition increases have brought the State System closer to the College Board's national tuition average for public campuses: $166 above it as of 2007-08, versus $698 above it five years ago.

"We're very proud," said State System board of governors Chairman Kenneth M. Jarin.

"It's like everything else. Your rent goes up every year. Tuition goes up every year. It's a question of making it manageable," said Josh O'Brien, 22, a Bloomsburg University senior and student board member who voted for the increase.

Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell, said state-related schools including Pitt and Penn State should "follow the lead of the schools within the State System and work toward more efficiency."

But officials at Pitt and Penn State say state funding gains have been more than offset by rising utility costs. At Pitt, the share of operating expenses covered by the state has fallen from about 33 percent in the 1970s to 11 percent, Mr. Nordenberg said.