Few situations could more fully support the concept that history repeats itself than the current budget crisis at Chico State University.

As the university struggles to chart a budgetary future in a sea of utter fiscal confusion, the similarities between this year's situation and the events of a decade ago are almost spooky in their sameness.

As it is today, the mood at Chico State was grim at best as the 1992-93 academic year approached.

By June of 1992, the Gov. Pete Wilson administration was predicting a totally unimaginable $11 billion budget deficit.

In 2003, the state is facing a $38 billion sump hole of red ink.

Every facet of state government, including the California State University system, was bracing for what seemed like enormous cuts.

A decade ago the governor's May budget revision called for cuts to the CSU of just about 10 percent. A statewide budget collapse had all levels of California government bracing for a fiscal hit of gargantuan proportions.

Charles Reed, chancellor of the California State University system, said he'd "never seen a budget that promises to be as devastating as the proposal."

As a member campus of that system, Chico State officials were faced with something of a triple threat. The state's proposed budget promised cuts in the multi-millions of dollars to the campus.

"Practically everything is on the table. I do not want to fool or surprise anybody. Nothing is being held back. We simply don't know what the future brings," said then Chico State President Robin Wilson in May of 1992.

Reduced programs and class offerings would result further revenue shrinkage because,state funding is based on enrollment.

And fewer dollars, because of reduced enrollment, would mean other cuts in programs and classes, perpetuating the cycle.

Then as now, the university administrators struggled to find ways to make cuts while working in something of an information vacuum, because the Legislature had blown the constitutional deadline to pass a budget.

Today Chico State is betting the 2003-2004 budget will include an overall budget cut of 6.67 percent overall budget cut. In the 1992-93 budget, Chico State was expecting a cut in the vicinity of 10 percent.

In both situations the budget balancing act at the CSU was dependent on student fee hikes.

In July of 1992, the CSU Board of Trustees approved a 40 percent hike in student fees that made the annual cost of admission go from $936 to $1,308 for undergraduate California residents.

In December of last year, knowing funding cuts loomed on the mid-year horizon, the CSU Board of Trustees hiked undergraduate fees for the spring semester from $714 to $786. Current CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said the trustees will be asked to hike fees by an additional 30 percent at their July meeting.

If the trustees do that, student fees will climb to $1,022 a semester or $2,044 annually.

In an effort to encourage early retirements, then Gov. Wilson signed a bill authorizing a "golden handshake" for CSU faculty.

Under the provisions of that measure 42 percent of Chico State's then 787 full-time faculty were eligible to retire if they chose.

In the summer of 1992-93 then Chico State Wilson pledged to "preserve the university's core curriculum, preserve tenured faculty, and keep the "fragile layer of faculty diversity."

At the same time he briefly flirted with closing down the university's College of Agriculture. That idea was shot down by serious opposition from the region's agricultural community.

Ultimately the Chico State dance department was killed, and a lone tenured professor was let go.

Last year, in a somewhat different incarnation, a dance program was officially returned to Chico State.

Now university administrators are warning that the 2004-2005 budget could even be more draconian than the coming budget.

In 1992 officials warned Chico State could face another 5 percent cut the coming year.

What the final results of the current budget crisis will be are impossible to say. But what happened following the last major budget debacle is a matter of history, and a list of comparative figures shows some changes.

In the 1990-91 academic year there were 812 full-time faculty, 936 staff positions, 16,000 students, at Chico State.

As things began to contract in the 1991-92 school year, the roster of full-time faculty dropped to 681. The number of staff positions slipped to 851, and enrollment fell to 15,694 students.

After all of the discussion of fiscal fears and the economic downturn that was hitting statewide, the 1992-93 academic year saw the full-time faculty slip to 665. Staff numbers dipped to 780, and enrollment fell to 15,170 students.