The start today of the fall semester at California State University, Northridge, brings with it another year of record-breaking enrollment, coupled with higher fees and the worst budget crisis the university has faced in a decade.

Enrollment is expected to top 33,000 students, about 1,000 more than last year. And student fees, like those at the other CSU and University of California campuses, are 30 percent higher this fall -- undergraduate fees rose $474 to a total of $2,046 a year.

And the university's general fund budget was reduced by about $5 million, down to $208 million.

In her state-of-the-university address last week, CSUN President Jolene Koester compared the university to a family setting off on a summer vacation and the state of California to the rental-car company.

"In better years past, when we had a smaller family, the rental car we received for that year's trip might have been a spacious SUV," Koester said. "But now, this year and for the future, it looks like we're getting a subcompact.

"To put it bluntly, we're getting squeezed."

CSUN students said they're getting by as they always have: by living with their parents or with roommates, sharing textbooks, taking on more hours at their jobs, cutting back on treats and taking longer to graduate.

Elena Eghtesady, 19, a sophomore graphic design major, hopes her 1985 Celica holds on a little while longer as she commutes from her parents' house in Glendale. The fee hike forced her to take a job at the campus bookstore, but she's hoping she can avoid student loans.

"It's just going to take more time and sacrifices. It may take me five years instead of four -- but as long as I get my degree, that's all that matters," she said.

Kira Lobenstein, 18, a Northridge freshman who hopes to become a courtroom interpreter for the hearing impaired, worries that the budget cuts may mean the university won't be able to buy the latest instructional sign-language videos, although campus officials said many are created on campus.

"I was going to get a car, but I decided I needed to save that money for school," said Lobenstein, who lives at home and plans to get a job on campus.

For Jaime Lawson, a 25-year-old Northridge senior graduating with a degree in child development, the tuition increase means she won't be buying any novels to read for pleasure.

"I have no life now," sighed Lawson, who works full time, lives with roommates and has about $7,000 in student loans. "Students need to be more active and come to rallies."

Terry Piper, vice president for student affairs, said with more students on campus and no money for the campus to grow, students will notice the pinch. If it used to take two weeks to book an appointment to talk to a mental health counselor, it now may take a month for a nonemergency, he said.

"Some of the students who need just a little bit of guidance ... are not going to get that guidance, and their problems are going to intensify," Piper said.

For CSUN faculty, who already teach an average of four classes per semester in addition to research and service duties, it means a few more students per classroom -- "30 to 32; noticeable, but not overwhelming," said Michael Neubauer, faculty senate president -- and less money for travel to the conferences that keep them current, and to pay for things such as student graders.

Fewer graders mean professors may end up assigning less homework, which often gives students valuable feedback on how well they're learning the course material, said Kate Stevenson, an assistant professor in mathematics.

But students will find a new parking garage with 1,000 more spaces on the east side of campus and will be able to grab food and drink on the run at the new Sierra Center, south of the new garage, which features one cafe named Freudian Sip. Most food and beverage vendors have been on the west side of campus.