LONG BEACH As students and professors demonstrated outside, trustees for the 23-campus California State University system postponed a vote Wednesday that would have raised fees for the second time in six months.
Officials are still weighing a 25 percent fee increase for undergraduate students and a 20 percent increase for graduate students. But fearing they might have to raise prices again in a few months, the trustees opted to wait until they have a clearer picture of the state's spending plan.

Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday released his latest budget proposal, one that calls for no additional cuts to the CSU or the University of California. Competing plans from Democrats and Republicans, however, suggest trimming between $70 million and $200 million from the system's $2.5 billion budget this on top of a $260 million cut announced by Davis in January.

Any additional reduction would almost certainly result in enrollment caps and layoffs, or a fee increase on top of the proposed 25 percent increase for undergraduate students and 20 percent for grad students.

"Unfortunately, we're not empowered to print money,' said Trustee William Hauck, "so we have to depend on the money we receive from the Legislature and the governor.'

If state budget deliberations move quickly, a decision on fees could be made as early as next month during a special session. Otherwise, trustees will likely vote on the matter at their July meeting.

"We want to be able to give our students and their families enough time for financial plan ning for next year,' said CSU Chancellor Charles Reed in a statement, "and a single action seems the best and clearest way to do that.'

An increase of 25 percent would bump the annual cost of an undergraduate education to $1,968, excluding additional campus-based charges. Graduate students would pay $2,082 annually.

In December, fees jumped 10 percent for undergraduate students and 15 percent for graduate students following unexpected midyear cuts from Sacramento. Just like then, students on Wednesday rallied outside the Chancellor's Office at 401 Golden Shore and packed a gallery inside the meeting room. Several addressed the trustees.

"We're always the first ones targeted when things go awry,' said Sadot Chavez of Cal State Dominguez Hills, who claimed the state's prisons are better funded than the CSU.

"I don't think that's a great message that the state of California is sending to its students and all the residents of the state,' he said.

As the meeting ensued, about 300 students and a handful of faculty members outside were listening to speeches and live music at a staging area decorated with orange and white balloons.

Laura Apeldoorn, a 22-year-old psychology major at Cal State Long Beach, was one of several from the nearby college.

"It's not the students' fault that the budget crisis is happening,' she said. "They can find alternate ways of balancing the budget.'

Ben Mendez, 22, majoring in comparative literature at CSULB, said he's barely getting by working 30 hours a week to pay for his education. Another hike, he said, would hamstring low-income Latino students.

"I just don't have the economic resources to afford this anymore,' Mendez said.