The state’s financial crisis means that thousands of Rhode Island students attending public or private colleges will receive smaller state scholarships for the next academic year, even as the cost of higher education continues to climb and families are scrambling to pay tuition bills.

Eligible students will receive an average of about $900 evenly divided between fall and spring semesters — a drop from a couple of years ago, when most students received about $1,200 a year.

Higher Education Commissioner Jack R. Warner called the scholarship decrease regrettable, acknowledging that students and their families will have to shoulder more of the burden of paying for college.

“It does compromise affordability for the students who need it the most,” Warner said.

The state grant program, administered by the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority, must cut back its awards because a higher number of students applied for the limited funds, said Michael Joyce, director of program administration.

The fiscal 2010 state budget pending in the state House of Representatives allocates $12.5 million for state scholarships in the coming academic year. That figure is up slightly from the $11.3 million allocated for the current year.

However, “We had a pool of about 18,000 eligible applicants,” Joyce said. Last year, about 16,000 students received the scholarships, which are based on family income and other factors, such as the number of siblings in college at the same time.

While about 18,000 students will receive money this year, an additional 6,875 students who applied late will not receive any grant money, Joyce said. When the economy was stronger, the authority was able to accommodate several hundred late applicants.

The pending budget sets aside just $6.3 million in state money for the scholarship program, the same amount the state contributed for the current academic year. That’s $400,000 less than the state dedicated to college grants back in 1983, when the cost of attending college was considerably less.

The rest of the state grant money comes from about $350,000 in federal money and profits from the CollegeBoundfund, a college-savings plan run by the authority. The budget calls for proceeds from the CollegeBoundfund to contribute $5.7 million to the scholarships, up from $4.5 million this year.

By using so much of the CollegeBoundfund money now, the state may have nothing left next year for another popular scholarship program called Academic Promise, which gives 100 Rhode Island high school seniors a four-year scholarship of $2,500 a year if they maintain high grades.

“By transferring all that money over to the state grants, in 2010-2011 we are likely not going to have a new class for the Academic Promise program,” Joyce said.

The diminishing state scholarship program comes at the same moment in-state costs are rising 10 percent at the state’s three public colleges, because of cuts in state support.

At the University of Rhode Island, in-state students will pay $850 more, for a total of $9,528 a year in tuition and fees. Average room and board costs $10,548.

At Rhode Island College, in-state students will pay an additional $637, for a total of $6,408 in tuition and fees. Average room and board is $9,054.

At the Community College of Rhode Island, in-state students will pay $286 more, for a total of $3,376 in tuition and fees.

jjordan@projo.com