Higher tuition rates and slashed state appropriations to colleges denied at least 250,000 prospective students access to college in the 2003-4 fiscal year, and governors and state lawmakers must enact "emergency measures" to keep that number from growing in 2004-5, according to the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education.

The center, a nonprofit research organization, made the argument in a statement released last week that was sent to policy makers in all 50 states.

The statement recommends that colleges provide space for all eligible students, especially those from low- and middle-income families, at an affordable price.

"This is a one-time, short-term set of proposals aimed at people setting budgets in the next couple of months," said David W. Breneman, dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and a member of the panel that drafted the recommendations. The statement, a two-page letter, was sent to college officials as well as to all 50 governors and to state legislators who are members of higher-education and finance committees.

The statement is the most explicit that the center has ever published, said Patrick M. Callan, the organization's president. "We believe this is a crisis," he said. "It is the governors and legislators who own this issue. They are writing the budgets and setting the priorities."

Using colleges as a short-term budget fix has led to more students paying more for college and assuming greater debt to stay in, Mr. Callan said. To ensure affordable access to college, lawmakers should avoid cuts that would affect low- and middle-income students.