Saying that budget cuts could be harsher than originally expected, California State University Chancellor Charles Reed will push to raise student fees for the fall semester by 30 percent.

Reed warns that the 25 percent increase proposed earlier by Gov. Gray Davis leaves the 23-campus system too vulnerable as lawmakers continue to haggle over how to close a $38.2 billion budget shortfall.

CSU students and faculty have already vehemently protested a 25 percent increase, arguing that the university should find other ways to make up for the diminishing resources from Sacramento.

After delaying a vote last month on the 25 percent hike, the CSU Board of Trustees will make a decision on the even higher increase at its July meeting, said spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler.

Under the 30 percent scenario, a full-time undergraduate would see fees go to roughly $2,044 from $1,572. For graduates, fees would rise to $2,254 from $1,734.

In a letter to campus presidents, Reed said fee increases at the 30 percent level may not prevent layoffs and cuts to enrollment.

"At this time it is prudent for each CSU campus to review its current 2003-2004 enrollment scenario and prepare contingency plans for reducing enrollment," Reed wrote in a five-page memo last week.

Reed anticipates that lawmakers may slash between $69.5 million and $200 million on top of $225 million in cuts that Davis has planned.

"It is not a pretty picture," Bentley-Adler said. "But we have to do this kind of contingency plan in case things get even worse."

While students appreciate the scale of the state's budget woes, they question the wisdom and fairness of solving the problem by raising tuition.

"It's the short-sighted way to deal with the problem," said Peter Ucovich, the new president of Associated Students at CSUS. "Once we lose students from the system, and I guarantee you that we will, we have no way of tracking them and getting them back in the system. There will be no way of protecting the investment that the state of California has already made in them."

Some lawmakers have demanded that CSU temporarily halt installation of a controversial, $662 million computer system as one way to spare students.

CSU officials say some campuses already have elected to delay -- which will save $16 million -- but some can't because they need the software program to handle admissions and enrollment.

At a glance
CSU Chancellor Charles Reed warns that the 25 percent increase in student fees proposed by Gov. Gray Davis leaves the 23-campus system too vulnerable; he intends to push for a 30 percent hike.
Under the 30 percent scenario, a full-time undergraduate would see fees go to roughly $2,044 from $1,572. For graduates, fees would rise to $2,254 from $1,734.
The increases would begin with the fall semester.
The CSU Board of Trustees will make a decision on the even higher increase at its July meeting.