Re-playing a now familiar version of the Chico State University budgetary blues, President Paul Zingg Wednesday told a campus committee the coming fiscal year is going to be somewhere between "dreadful" and "devastating."

The University Budget Committee gathered to review the potential impact of the cuts for the coming academic year and to at least think about the years that will follow.

"The numbers, in many respects, haven't changed all that much since October," Zingg said.

While nothing is final until the Legislature passes the budget and the governor signs it, Zingg reported the university is anticipating an 8 to 9 percent cut in the 2004-2005 budget, or a reduction of about $9.16 million from the current budget.

The continuing budget crisis has seen Chico State's budget cut by roughly $20 million over the last two years, starting from a base of about $130 million, according to the president.

"Nobody is happy with any kind of a cut and we would be idiots if we said we liked any kind of a cut," Zingg told the committee. But he went on to say this budget may be the best the university can hope for under the circumstances.

He called the situation a "crisis for public higher education in this state," and said the cuts have been "devastating" for Chico State,

Later in the same meeting he characterized the cuts as "dreadful" and "deep, bordering on devastating."

About 85 percent of the campus budget falls under the purview of Scott McNall, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Both McNall and Zingg said the first priority in the budget process is to "protect instruction."

Having said that, McNall offered a list of discussion items on ways to cut costs and consolidate services.

Among the list of ideas is making graduate students pay the full cost of their education, possibly suspending grad programs that don't meet performance goals, considering suspension of graduate programs with fewer than 10 students enrolled, and even suspending undergraduate majors with fewer than 25 enrolled.

McNall stressed the ideas were just topics for consideration. In each case where the suspension of a program is being discussed, the plan also says currently enrolled students would be allowed to complete their course work.

If there was one new note of gloom in Wednesday's meeting, it came from Jim Moon, acting vice president for student affairs.

Moon told the group he is anticipating a mid-year cut in the coming academic year, and additional cuts in the 2005-2006 and the 2006-2007 years as well.

CUTS, CUTS, CUTS: Chico State University's has been cut $20 million in the last two years, and another $9 million cut is being predicted in 2004-05. Further reductions are expected in the two years after that.