With a proposed third tuition hike in a year on the horizon, Cal Poly students in the fall could pay 60 percent more per quarter than they did 15 months ago.

California State University Chancellor Charles Reed has asked the system's trustees to increase undergraduate and graduate fees by 30 percent, or about $160 per quarter, to ease state budget cut impacts.

If trustees accept the proposal, most full-time undergraduate Poly students would pay roughly $1,150 per quarter -- an increase of more than $425 from what they paid during the 2001-02 school year.

It would be the largest tuition hike in CSU history, based on dollar amount. No new services would be added with the increase -- it would simply replace some money that was once provided by the state government.

Earlier this year, the chancellor suggested raising undergraduate fees by 25 percent, or $132 per quarter. That proposal has been delayed twice and has now been increased in the face of a steadily worsening state budget picture.

The increase could be especially daunting for Cal Poly students, who now face their third tuition hike in a year.

CSU trustees approved a $48-per-quarter increase for Cal Poly and the 22 other CSU campuses in December to help soften a $60 million midyear budget shortfall.

In spring 2002, before the state budget crisis hit full bore, Cal Poly administrators proposed a $125 to $200 campus fee hike to upgrade equipment, hire more teachers and improve classrooms.

A majority of students agreed with the plan and voted to start paying the new fees in fall 2002. Students in the College of Liberal Arts agreed to pay $125 a quarter, while the other five undergraduate colleges decided on $200.

The trustees will decide on the latest hike at their mid-July meeting in Long Beach.

Even with the higher fees, the CSU would likely have to limit enrollment next year and eliminate about 700 positions, primarily through attrition and not rehiring temporary employees, Reed said.

There is a strong likelihood that the California Legislature will take at least an additional $69.5 million from the CSU budget, on top of the net $260.7 million reduction Gov. Gray Davis has proposed, Reed said in a statement. That's his reasoning for the additional 5 percent hike.

Last fiscal year, the CSU system's budget was $3 billion.