Penn State’s president is urging lawmakers to increase state funding for the university for the first time in five years. President Neeli Bendapudi also told them, Penn State is one of the lowest-funded public universities, on a per-student basis, in the country. She encouraged them to implement a performance-based funding model for the state’s public universities, as well. President Bendapudi spoke during a hearing last week of the House Appropriations Committee in Harrisburg.