Piecemeal federal aid isn’t keeping up with rising tuition at four-year public universities, according to a new report from the College Board.

As tuition continues to climb, Pell Grants – the government’s main grants for college education – failed to keep pace with inflation last year for the fourth year in a row, said the report, released Monday. Federal loans also failed to compensate for inflation, forcing students to take out 12 percent more loans from private lenders, according to the report.

Christian Richardson, a sophomore computer science major, said the trend is straining his family’s wallet.

“My parents had to refinance our house to get loans for college,” Richardson said. “The government should have given the money it’s using for wars and different issues” for education grants.

In-state students at public four-year universities nationwide are paying 6.6 percent more for tuition for the 2007-2008 school year compared to last year, the report showed. Out-of-state students’ tuition rose 5.5 percent.

While university tuition for both in- and out-of-state students is still higher than the national average, its percent increases were lower. In-state students saw yet another tuition freeze this year while out-of-state students saw a 4 percent increase.

There could be some relief in the future as President Bush signed a law last month that increased Pell Grant funding by $11.4 billion.

The largest Pell Grant covers about 32 percent of average tuition costs at public universities, the report stated, down from 52 percent in the 1986-1987 school year.

Jaison Cooper, a freshman information systems major, has found a way to pay for his tuition through a patchwork of grants, scholarships and a few loans. But he said he is still dissatisfied with the system.

Cooper said he has heard of people who get Pell Grants or other scholarships intended to pay for education but then decide to live at home or be a resident assistant and keep the extra money from the grants.

“That money should go to students who need it,” Cooper said.

Still, Cooper said that because he got so many grants – including a Pell Grant and a $13,000 scholarship from the university – he only had to take out $1,000 in interest-free loans to fill the gaps in his education funding.

“The system is working for me, but it’s still flawed,” Cooper said.