University of California officials confronted a key question Thursday in Fresno about the opening of UC Merced in the fall of 2004: What if it doesn't happen?

At a news conference about the university's progress, students, a dean and university representatives said they are considering alternatives in case the opening is delayed.

Johnny Peña, 28, and John Bridges, 31, two Fresno City College students working toward transfers to the University of California at Merced next year, are among 120 "concurrent admissions" students who attend community colleges in Fresno, Merced and Modesto. They have been accepted to UC Merced and have to satisfactorily complete only lower-division work.

The uncertainty over the university's future leaves Pena and Bridges considering the possibility that they may not wind up at UC Merced at all and has led them to consider other UC campuses; California State University, Fresno; or taking a job until the university opens.

UC representatives offered these alternatives:

Transfer to another UC campus.

Attend UC Merced from the Fresno building or from Merced area buildings.

Earn credits through research projects and internships, such as measuring and studying the Sierra snowpack.

A fourth and undefined area of study, which UC Merced representatives could not define.

"It all depends on what is available and when," said university spokesman James Grant, adding that UC Merced owes each of its 120 concurrent admission students "a heart-to-heart" conversation by October about where to go next.

Encarnacion Ruiz, UC Merced's admissions director, said that Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey has instructed deans "to work with these kids" on what to do "if, for some reason, we don't open on time. How do we accommodate them?"

Such questions have become more germane as the state budget deficit deepens, especially since the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education voted last month to delay UC Merced's opening by a year to save $4 million. It was not the final vote.

Jeff R. Wright, the university's dean of engineering, said students will be affected by how the university opens as well as when it does.

"If the budget situation gets worse, we will have to look at alternative strategies," he said, describing a recent test by the UC system that electronically brought together students from Merced College with UC students in Berkeley.

In separate interviews, Peña and Bridges described their own contingency planning in case the campus doesn't open on time.

Bridges had heard rumors that the campus might be delayed. In that case, he would work full-time as a Web site developer until the Merced campus is ready.

"If it went longer than 2005, I would consider Berkeley or Fresno State," he said.

Fresno State would be his more likely choice, considering the additional costs of living farther from home in the Bay Area.

Peña has other colleges in mind. He mentioned UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara, then said, "I don't want to settle for the state university system."

Peña has big academic plans, including a quadruple major in mathematics, physics, linguistics and philosophy.

"I want to be more eclectic rather than focus on one subject," he said.

The university has 45 community college "ambassadors" working to prepare students for the transition to UC, said Sebastian Benavidez, UC Merced coordinator of concurrent admissions.

Grant promised: "We will take care of these concurrent admission students."