Two- and four-year public colleges in Pennsylvania grew more costly this year relative to schools in other states, rising to third- and fourth-highest respectively in a national survey released yesterday.

The College Board's report on college pricing for 2007-08 represents a modest setback in the state's effort to shed its pricey campus image.

Last year, Pennsylvania's public four-year colleges slipped from being the most expensive of the 50 states to fifth-highest, a development welcomed by state officials. But this year, the average of $9,672 charged by those schools for tuition and fees, up 7 percent from last year, was surpassed only by Vermont at $10,428, New Jersey at $9,984 and New Hampshire at $9,673.

Two-year colleges saw their average tuition and fees rise to $4,556, a 4 percent increase that remained closer to the inflation rate. Still, the cost surpassed that in all other states save New Hampshire at $5,692 and Vermont at $5,500. Pennsylvania's two-year schools had been fourth most expensive last year.

Pennsylvania's private colleges, meanwhile, saw improvement in price relative to other states, slipping from 10th most expensive nationally last year to 11th this year.

Private schools on average charge substantially more than public schools, and this year's 6 percent increase across Pennsylvania brought the average private college cost for tuition and fees to $27,272.

The College Board, which released an accompanying report on financial aid, said three-quarters of full-time undergraduates last year received some form of assistance. The aid has not kept pace with school charges but nevertheless has softened the blow.

"Many students pay less than the published price," said Sandy Baum, a senior policy analyst with the College Board. "The national average doesn't relate to what individual students pay."

For instance, even though the average price nationally for in-state tuition and fees at public four-year schools grew this year by 6.6 percent, to $6,185, grants and tax credits cut the net cost to roughly $2,600, the College Board study found.

The average cost to attend a private college nationally, up by 6.3 percent to $23,712, falls to $14,400 after factoring in grants and tax credits. At two-year colleges, the average price of $2,361, a 4.2 percent increase, was lowered to a net cost of $320.

Tuition and fees do not include other charges that students face, such as room and board. Once both those expenses are added in, the average student nationally paid $13,589 at public four-year colleges this year and $32,307 at private colleges.

The College Board price survey is weighted by enrollment, so Pennsylvania's rank benefited from growth of the 14 universities in the State System of Higher Education, which now enroll 110,000 students, collectively the largest system in the state. The $6,731 in tuition and fees paid by students at those state-owned universities is nearly a third less than the state average, even after this year's 2.8 percent tuition increase.

Across Penn State University's 84,000 student system, in-state tuition this fall rose 4.3 percent to 5.5 percent, meaning lower-division students in University Park pay $12,284.

The University of Pittsburgh's nearly 34,000 students faced a range of increases as well, from 6.5 percent for most undergraduates on the main campus to rates of 4 percent or less at its branches. At Pitt, the yearly base tuition cost for an in-state undergraduate who enrolled in 2004 or later on the main campus is $12,106.

Donna Cooper, secretary of policy for Gov. Ed Rendell, said the state does not have the same price-setting authority over Pitt, Penn State, Temple University and Lincoln University that it does with the state system's 14 schools, including California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock in Western Pennsylvania.

"When you look at the purely public colleges here, the tuition has grown slower than the rate of inflation," she said.

In fact, she said, the average net state system tuition paid after state grants are factored in actually declined between 2002 and last year by $188, or 9 percent, to $1,975.

At Penn State, senior Jay Chamberlin, 22, of East Stroudsburg, Monroe County, blames government appropriations that he and others on the campus say have not kept pace with what peer institutions get in other states.

"It's putting a big hit on my pocket," said Mr. Chamberlin, a member of the student government. "I wish the state and federal government would do a little more to make it affordable."