Gearing up for what promises to be another grim year of budget cuts, University of California regents on Wednesday reviewed a collection of scenarios for coping with shortfalls.

The options put on the table included everything from higher student fees to delaying the opening of the Merced campus.

The options are "all terrible," Vice President for Budget Larry Hershman said in presenting the options to regents. "I've spent my whole 36-year career here fighting these kinds of options year in and year out. I'm not going to tell you we support any of them."

The list was intended to give regents an overview of cost-cutting options available to them as they head into budget planning for 2004-05. Regents didn't take any action or participate in significant discussions on the merits of the options. Those discussions will likely begin in November and continue in following months.
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"One of the biggest problems is that we don't know what the (state) budget is going to be like," said UC spokesman Trey Davis. "These are general preparations and background discussions so that once we do actually know what the budget is going to be like, they will be better prepared to best assess the preferred course of action."

Options for dealing with the budget shortfalls outlined Wednesday include:

- Increasing student fees. Each $100 increase brings $13.3 million to the university. One proposal would raise UC fees $1,800, which officials said would bring the annual tuition closer in line with tuition charged at comparable institutions across the nation.

UC President Richard Atkinson, attending his last meeting before retiring on Oct. 1, said UC should consider increasing fees for out-of-state students, then try to recruit more of them. The plan could bring in significantly more money and help reduce enrollment limits on California residents.

- Reducing enrollments. Options include freezing the number of new freshmen enrolled -- enrollments have been growing by about 2,000 students per year -- and accepting fewer community college transfer students.

Another option would ask a portion of UC-eligible freshmen to attend a community college for their first two years before transferring to UC.

- Further delay the opening of UC Merced, the system's 10th campus. Officials saved $4 million this year by delaying the opening from 2004 to 2005.

Several regents, however, said they wouldn't support such a plan. UC has already spent $350 million to help construct the new campus and hire faculty.

This year, UC cut programs and staffing and implemented a 30 percent tuition increase to help make up for a $484 million state cut. The tuition increase, which followed a 10 percent increase approved in December, brings annual undergraduate tuition to $4,984.

Hershman told regents that next year's state budget won't be any better for UC.

The state has already warned both UC and California State University officials that it won't fund enrollment growth next year, and both systems are considering enrollment caps.

At UC, as many as 2,500 students could be kept out.

UC officials expect they'll have a better handle on next year's finances in January, when the governor issues his preliminary budget for next fiscal year.

In a hint of tough times ahead, the state Department of Finance earlier this month asked UC and CSU officials to draft a list of possible scenarios for dealing with a 20 percent budget reduction.

Hershman said a 20 percent reduction would zap nearly $600 million from UC's coffers. Fees would go up nearly $4,000, he said, and the cut would mean a reduction of as many as 60,000 students -- more students than UC even admits in one year.

"This is a very serious situation the state is in," Hershman said.