Community college students throughout the state are gearing up for the fall semester by registering for classes, buying textbooks and filling out financial aid forms.

But as the state budget deadlock continues to simmer in the Legislature, students are wondering: How much are fees going to increase?

In January, Gov. Gray Davis proposed to boost community college fees from $11 to $24 per unit, then lowered that number to $18 in his May budget revise. Assembly Republicans proposed to hike fees to $26 per unit but backed off after they failed to gain support.

Next week, Senate Republicans are expected to consider a proposal that wouldn't raise fees, but education leaders in Sacramento said an increase is inevitable.

"It's almost certain that the amount will be $18 per unit," said Scott Lay, director of state budget issues for the Community College League of California. "But community colleges cannot require students to pay that until a budget is passed. In the meantime, districts will collect $11 per unit and hopefully warn students that the fee will go up and that they will be required to pay the difference."

Robert Bell, vice president of student services at Chaffey College, said his campus has done the best possible job in preparing students for a fee increase.

"In anticipation of this, we have advised students in mailings, in conversations and in classes that we anticipate fees going up," Bell said. "Students are aware that there will be an increase, so it won't be a totally new discussion when it happens."

At Mt. San Antonio College, Audrey Yamagata-Noji, vice president of student services, said she is concerned with the amount of time and energy it would take to bill students for retroactive fees.

"It's a huge administrative burden," she said. "We will have to notify thousands of students, there is staff work time, reprogramming computers, reprinting materials, recalculating every student's amount owed, printing envelopes, postage and recalculating financial aid budgets. It's a massive amount of work."

Meanwhile, the money to take on this task comes out of the college's already-slashed budget, Yamagata-Noji noted, and the costs incurred would be significant.

"Let's say it takes two hours per student to process -- it could easily cost $40 to $50 per student to make those changes," Yamagata-Noji said.

With a student population of approximately 27,000 students, the total cost could amount to $1.35 million.

"And that's a conservative estimate," Yamagata-Noji said.

The myth is that increasing student fees will mean more programs or resources, Yamagata-Noji added. But the reality is, community colleges merely collect the fees and send them straight into state coffers.

For students, paying $11 per unit now and having the obligation to pay the rest of it later is like a thorn in the side.

"It's crazy. Paying more to come to school is just not right," 19-year-old Andrew Lopez said. "Now it's going up again. This is crazy."

Carla Hill, 53, said without fee waivers that are available to low-income students, she wouldn't know how she would be able to absorb the extra costs.

"But it makes me wonder about other students," the Rialto resident said. "They're probably wondering, 'How am I going to do it?"'