Dee Turner brings a boatload of experience to her work-study job of counseling students on financial aid at California State University, Channel Islands.

Turner returned to school after a divorce to earn a business degree. She combines strict budgeting with grants, loans and part-time jobs to put herself through college while raising two young daughters.

Back-to-school shopping is at Wal-Mart instead of J.C. Penney, and morning coffee is Folgers rather than Starbucks.

After covering school costs, most of the money she earns pays the increasing rent on her two-bedroom Oxnard apartment and day-care at a YMCA. During the school year, Turner and her daughters study twice a week at the Oxnard Library. Other days, the girls finish their homework at the Y; Turner does hers after putting them to bed.

"You have to be disciplined and make sacrifices to make this work," said Turner, who works hard to maintain her eligibility for the highest level of Cal Grant, a state monetary award that doesn't have to be paid back. She admits she wasn't as diligent about her grades when she earned her first of two associates degrees in 1990.

"Grades mean money," she said. "It took me this long to realize that."

About one-third of the roughly 2,000 students at CSUCI, which welcomed its first freshman class last week, use some form of financial help, said Director of Financial Aid Nick Pencoff.

Tuition and campus fees for resident, full-time CSU students have increased 42.2 percent since 1992, from about $1,456 to $2,070, and rates will increase another 24 percent next year to about $2,566 because of California's budget crisis, according to the CSU public affairs office.

"Fees are going up, but I think people forget what a bargain public education is in California," said Pencoff, noting that the Cal Grant program can cover the bulk of tuition and fees for students with financial need and high grade-point averages.

But with rents rising in line with Ventura County's soaring $400,000-plus median home price, students struggle to cover living expenses even with financial aid. The first of CSUCI's low-cost student housing units aren't expected to be ready until at least next year.

"If I didn't have VA and (Social Security) disability, I wouldn't be able to go back to school because of the rent I pay," said Oxnard resident Dennie Grant, a Vietnam veteran who wants to work in the criminal justice field after he receives his bachelor's degree in sociology in December.

Grant, 58, estimates he's accumulated $28,000 in student loans over the last 41/2 years. He estimates he'll make loan payments of $200 to $250 a month until he reaches the age when many of his peers are considering retirement.

"It will be worth it," he said. "I was a claims adjuster and working in (criminal justice) is going to be a lot more interesting than dealing with fender- benders."

Business major Irma Cabrera of Camarillo, who lives with her parents, said she is attending CSUCI part-time until she can qualify for financial aid.

"I could handle the cost of Oxnard College just with money from my job, but transferring to (Cal State) costs $1,000 more for full time," said Cabrera, 21. "Even part time, its costing me $400 to $500 more."

Erin Berg of Thousand Oaks, a 20-year old transfer student, said she's fortunate to be able to live at home while finishing college.

"That was the bargain -- I pay for school, my parents cover food and housing," said Berg, who plans to graduate with a liberal studies degree in December and become an elementary school teacher.

Berg said she works 30 hours a week to help pay for college and incidental expenses, but also has accumulated $10,000 in student loans.

"It looks like the loan payments will be $55 to $100 a month, so that's not too bad even though it's for 10 years," she said. "Since I'm not paying for it now, it hasn't hit me yet."

Grants are covering most school costs for 22-year-old English major Nekisa Crooks, who plans to become a high- school teacher. But to avoid student loans, Crooks said she works two part-time jobs and shares an apartment on Silver Strand Beach.

"I would have no problem getting a loan if I really needed it, but not doing it is something I'm striving for, along with paying for my college by myself," she said. "It's a good feeling to be getting out without being in debt."

On the Net:

California Student Aid Commission: www.csac.ca.gov