CALEXICO — Students attending San Diego State University-Imperial Valley campus here will face a 30 percent increase in tuition when they return to school Sept. 2.

California State University System trustees approved the fee hike last week, which increases undergraduate fees by $474 and graduate fees by $522 annually across the board for more than six units per semester. CSU board members said the fees are necessary to fill in monetary gaps if an anticipated cut of more than $330 million is enacted for the 2003-2004 budget.

Full-time undergraduate students at SDSU-IV will pay $1,090 per semester, up from $853 during the spring 2003 semester, which is up from $781 during the fall 2002 semester. Part-time undergrad students with six units or less will pay $661, compared to the previous price tag of $523 in the spring and $481 in the fall.

Full-time graduate students will pay $1,195, instead of $934 in the spring and $820 in the fall. Part-time graduate fees will cost $721, up from $571 in the spring and $505 in the fall.

In 2000-2001 fees were actually decreased. From 1993 to 1998, CSU officials steadily increased tuition rates.

During the 1995 to 1996 school year full-time undergraduates paid $859 per semester and part-time students paid $526.

Those numbers dropped to $820 and $505, respectively, in 1998 to 1999.

Despite the gloomy forecast SDSU-IV Dean Khosrow Fatemi expects the increase to have little effect on local students.

"The impact of this tuition increase for our students should really be minimum at most because the vast majority of our students qualify for financial aid," he said. "We don't expect anybody to have a more difficult time registering than they did last year."

More than 80 percent of the Calexico campus' students take advantage of financial aid, Fatemi said.

What's more, Fatemi said with a fee increase the state is required to allocate one-third of the fee increase to financial aid. That means students already reaping the benefits of financial aid will continue to receive the funding and more students will qualify.

Still, what happens to that 20 percent minority who don't qualify for financial aid but can't afford the high fees?

Some of that 20 percent may qualify for financial aid, said Fatemi. He advises students who think they may qualify when the enhanced fees become a reality to contact SDSU-IV's financial aid department.

The deadline for California grants already has passed but students can continue to apply for federal loans and grants throughout the year.

The students who hold full-time jobs and attend school are often the unlucky few who bring home too much cash to qualify for aid but not enough to pay for classes.

That group will suffer under the increased fee.

California community college students also may suffer the backlash of budget woes if legislators enact a proposed increase of $11 per unit to $24.

Imperial Valley College students traveled to Sacramento in March with other community college students and administrators to demonstrate their opposition to such a drastic tuition increase.

IVC students suggested a more reasonable increase of $13 to $15 per unit.

California Community College Chancellor Tom Nussbaum reported in his July 11 weekly e-mail that state Senate Republicans are working to eliminate the proposed fee increase from the 2003-2004 budget and maintain the present fee of $11 per unit.