BERKELEY -- Leaders of California's two major public university systems say deep cuts in state funding likely will force them to hike student fees and could lead to cutting enrollment.

At the nine-campus University of California, system president Richard C. Atkinson said officials are looking at borrowing up to $50 million, raising student fees by up to 30 percent and considering enrollment reductions -- a highly unusual move -- for the 2004-05 year.

California State University also is considering raising fees by 30 percent and reducing enrollment next January.

Officials of the two systems, which combined serve more than 600,000 students, say they've got no choice in light of the major budget cuts brought on by the state's fiscal crisis.

"We think these are terrible options," said Brad Hayward, a UC spokesman. "We don't want to pursue any of them. But if the Legislature is going to keep cutting, we have to look at these kinds of things unless we want the educational quality of UC to deteriorate."

Wednesday, one day into the new fiscal year, no one knew for sure what the financial situation was because lawmakers haven't been able to pass a new budget.

However, based on Gov. Gray Davis' proposed budget, UC will have taken $360 million in cuts to existing programs by 2003-04, out of a state-funded budget of about $3 billion. UC also has about $100 million in cost increases, including health benefits.

Davis is opposing extra budget cuts for UC, but the Assembly and Senate versions of the budget include an extra $80.5 million one-time reduction for UC. Other proposals could mean at least $400 million in cuts for UC.

In response, Atkinson is proposing borrowing money to close part of the projected $80.5 million gap and financing the loan through a 6 percent increase in nonresident tuition, which would be on top of a planned 4 percent increase.

He is also proposing that student fees be raised by 25 percent above the current level, which would come on top of a $405 annual increase adopted this spring. For resident undergraduates, the hike would raise fees $960, bringing average annual fees to about $4,794 a year.

Graduate and professional school fees also would be raised 25 percent.

Atkinson also wants the regents to authorize him to raise fees by up to 30 percent if necessary.

Regents will consider the fee increases when they meet in San Francisco in mid-July.

Atkinson noted the current fee, $3,834 a year, is only $35 more than the 1994-95 total and even with a 30 percent hike, the total is still $1,200 below the average at comparable schools. Financial aid will cover all or part of the increases for poorer students.

At CSU, which with 23 campuses is the nation's largest public university system, officials are expecting $260.7 million in cuts under the proposed Davis budget plus another $69.5 million from the Legislature. Added to that are about $70 million in increased costs. As with UC, other proposals could dig much deeper into CSU's overall state-funded budget of about $2.6 billion.

The system's board of trustees, also meeting this month, is expected to consider raising undergraduate student fees by 30 percent, which would take average fees for undergraduates from about $2,070 to $2,544.

The issue of enrollment cuts is likely to be controversial, especially at UC where thousands of students compete for hundreds of spaces at the top campuses.

UC traditionally has guaranteed a space somewhere in the system for the top 12.5 percent of state high school graduates under the state's master plan for education. Hayward said officials won't know whether reducing growth by 5,000 will change that until they run a survey. The last survey, conducted in 1997, found that UC was taking about 11.1 percent of California high school graduates, but there have been a number of admissions changes since then.

CSU has a commitment to serve the top one-third of high school graduates.

CSU is considering cutting enrollment growth by as many as 8,000 students, starting in January. CSU spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler said it wasn't clear how much the cuts would affect CSU's master plan obligations.

Bentley-Adler said officials don't want to repeat the mistake of the '90s budget crunch when students were accepted but there weren't classes for them to enter. "We're trying to balance this so we've got the right number of students and the right number of classes."

Matt Murray, the student representative on UC's governing board of regents, was dismayed by the budget situation and UC's coping strategy.

On the one hand, "the state government has totally dropped the ball," he said. But Murray doesn't think fee increases are a good response, especially considering the one-time nature of the projected $80.5 million cut.

"Really, student fees are one of those things which should be the very last options for the university to take," he said. "I couldn't vote for a student fee increase because it would be telling the Legislature that what they're doing is OK, but it's not."