Hoping to avoid hitting students with a large tuition increase at a time when they and their families can least likely afford it, the state university system has asked its labor unions to consider freezing their pay for a year.

But the answer so far has been a resounding no.

Representatives from four unions attended a meeting called on Thursday by Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education officials to discuss the idea of the unions foregoing the 3 percent raise, plus step or service increases, that most of their contracts provides next year.

System officials said the salary savings would go a long way toward plugging a $49 million hole between anticipated expenses and revenue in its 2009-10 proposed operating budget of $1.4 billion. That assumes the system gets no additional state funding beyond the $499 million it received this year, as is provided for in Gov. Ed Rendell's budget proposal.

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