It has been an exciting summer for CSU-Monterey Bay. We started construction on a new residential complex, which will be completed in fall 2004. Our first brand new building, the Science and Academic Center, was completed, and we now have water in the pool that was a vacant lot just a few months ago.

Many of CSUMB's faculty members have spent the summer conducting research on such diverse topics as the use of wireless technology, the examination of Yellowstone as an integrated ecological system and the economic value of commercial fishing.

More than two dozen of our students are taking courses while visiting South America with our Summer At Sea program, while many others are gaining vital experience interning for businesses and companies all over the state.

And we received accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. They called CSUMB "a new model for higher education," and said that we were on the verge of becoming a national model because of our unique educational model.

It's been a great summer -- perhaps the best since opening almost nine years ago. The excitement on campus is palpable.

However, what has been a great summer for CSUMB has been disastrous in Sacramento as lawmakers continue to seek a compromise in the budget debacle. Struggling against the weight of the huge budget deficit, state agencies, including California State University, are developing plans to make it through the next year with far less money and with more demand placed on it than in previous years.

Faced with the likelihood of at least $330 million in cuts to the California State University's budget -- the largest single reduction in the university's history -- CSU's board of trustees voted last week to increase graduate and undergraduate systemwide student fees by 30 percent for 2003-04. The increase will amount to $235.80 more for CSU-Monterey Bay students for a total of $1,235.30 per semester.

As is CSU practice, a third of the additional fee revenue will be automatically directed to financial aid for the neediest students. The CSU board struggled through every imaginable scenario to implement these cuts with the least possible disruption to students. But we are at a point in California where the cuts to the CSU budget are so dramatic there was no choice.

Fee increases are never popular. But in the current economic environment this is the only way to preserve the path toward graduation. Sound contradictory? The fee increase will actually minimize the need for severe enrollment reductions. If fees were not raised, CSU would have been forced to lay off employees and cap enrollment.

Because of the layoffs, there would have been fewer classes available to students, thus delaying their progress to graduation and in the end costing students additional semesters worth of tuition. If the enrollment were capped, qualified students would be turned away from their quest to receive a higher education.

Even with the fee increases, CSUMB will be forced to cut at least $5.3 million of a $52 million operating budget. Our priority has been to protect access and quality while avoiding layoffs. Every department has been forced to cut its budget by 15 percent in order to preserve the budget for instruction, which was cut 6.5 percent.

Even with these fee increases, we must keep in mind that CSU's fees are still an incredible bargain. Not only does CSU continue to have the lowest fees among comparable public institutions across the country, but according to the College Board, people with a college degree earn 81 percent more on average than those with only a high school diploma. Over a lifetime, the gap in earning potential between a high school diploma and a bachelor's degree is more than $1 million.

Without a doubt, a CSUMB education is still a good deal.

Peter Smith is president of California State University at Monterey Bay.