Last year, the state budget crisis meant the end of the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence -- eight highly selective, tuition-free, summer programs for high school students.

Four schools stepped forward to rescue at least some of the programs in a different form, and three of them are offering the paid programs again this summer.

While their programs can't be called governor's schools, the University of Pittsburgh; Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Northampton County; and Drexel University in Philadelphia continue to offer these programs, which do not receive aid from the state:

• Pitt offers the Health Career Scholars Academy, replacing the Governor's School for Health Care, with tuition, room and board of $2,300.

• Lehigh offers the Pennsylvania School for Global Entrepreneurship, replacing the Governor's School for Global Entrepreneurship, with tuition, room and board of $2,950.

• The Drexel University Computer Academy replaces the Governor's School for Information, Society and Technology, with tuition, room and board of $4,500.

Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland offered a free two-week arts program last summer, but discontinued it this year.

Students who participated in the governor's schools spent five weeks at a host campus specializing in a particular field of study. Students competed to get into the schools, but, once accepted, the state paid the costs, which totaled about $3.2 million a year.

When the governor's proposed a budget in February 2009 included no money for the schools, the state notified students that the programs would be cancelled.

Pitt, Lehigh and Drexel decided to continue offering programs, this time charging fees and offering some financial aid. In spite of the fees, Pitt and Lehigh had full classes of 110 and 78 students, respectively. Drexel's class size decreased from 55 students in 2008 to 23 students last year.

This year, there are 99 students in Pitt's program, 70 at Lehigh and 20 at Drexel.

Lincoln Park received financial support from a variety of organizations and companies last year to provide a free program for 100 students, but it is not offering the program this summer because of marketing and funding concerns, said Stephen Catanzarite, managing director of the center and an alumnus of the Governor's School for the Arts.

"I'd love to do it again, if circumstances change," said Mr. Catanzarite.

Pennsylvania isn't alone in cutting funding for its governor's schools.

Karen Narkevic, director of Pitt's Health Career Scholars Academy, said many members of the National Conference of Governor's Schools are facing funding cuts. With the exception of Tennessee, which terminated and then reinstated its programs the following year, Pennsylvania is the only state to eliminate multiple programs in recent years.

Trisha Alexy, director of Lehigh's program, said the program has changed in name only. It's still five weeks long, and the curriculum is nearly identical.

Although programs at Pitt and Drexel also have remained relatively the same, both have taken advantage of the flexibility offered by the separation from the state.

At Pitt, this means more exploration of research careers in health care, while Drexel has added a research component to the computer program.

In an effort to lower tuition, Pitt cut its program to four weeks. Drexel's program remained five weeks long.

A challenge the programs now face is marketing.

In the first year, the programs relied on student applications already submitted to the state. Without state help, getting the word out is more difficult.

Ms. Alexy and Ms. Narkevic have worked together to promote their programs on their respective sides of the state by visiting schools and contacting guidance counselors. On its own, Drexel has followed a similar course of action reaching out to schools and guidance counselors.

The directors of all three programs said their universities continue the former governor's schools because the programs were too important to die.

"It's so important to Lehigh, and we really saw a great need to continue it. It really is a great giveback to the community," said Ms. Alexy.

All three programs have seen lower numbers of applications this year, but attribute that to marketing difficulties and tuition.

Despite the lower number of applications, Ms. Narkevic said the new program has been successful so far, and she expects the success will continue. "The interest is still there for students and parents," she said.

For now, there are no plans to reinstate the governor's schools. According to Leah Harris, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, Gov. Ed Rendell said the programs weren't a priority in the state's current financial situation.

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