CAL POLY - Cal Poly students are being asked whether they want to dramatically increase the amount they pay to help fund athletic scholarships.

The university has scheduled a student vote next week that would raise the athletic scholarship fee to $36 a quarter from the current $4.15. The increase would be phased in -- $20 more per quarter in 2004 and $5 more each of the next two years.

Members of the Progressive Student Alliance and the Cal Poly Democratic Club are urging students to reject the increase, saying the timing is bad to ask for more money.

They also say university officials have done a poor job informing students about next week's election.

If students pass the referendum, the increase would bring in an additional $1 million the first year and about $250,000 more in each of the next two years, said Kimi Ikeda, assistant vice provost for academic affairs.

Also on the ballot is a measure to increase the health services fee to $46 per quarter, up from $31. Student groups have not taken a position on this fee proposal.

Student support of athletics is an 18-year tradition at Cal Poly, according to liberal studies student Cassie Vanderbeek, a pitcher on the softball team who wrote the pro statement for the sample ballot on the university's Web site.

She wrote that the fee has changed little since first approved by students in 1986, while costs have gone up significantly.

If the fee hike is rejected "it will be necessary to alter our intercollegiate athletic program in a substantial way by eliminating sports, staff and reducing sports budgets," Vanderbeek wrote.

The university currently offers about 160 scholarships totaling about $2 million. The proposed fee increase would fund about another 60 scholarships.

Interim Athletic Director Alison Cone said Vanderbeek's gloomy outlook is correct if students reject the referendum.

While the department has endured recent cuts, the additional funds would help maintain current programs and, Cone hopes, expand them as enrollment increases in coming years.

Cone also said having a solid athletic program adds to student life across campus.

Clayton Whitt, co-director of the Progressive Student Alliance Whitt said he is not opposed to the principle of the student body helping support a small percentage of students.

He objects to the timing of the vote and claims the university has not adequately informed students about it.

Witt said that during the state's recent budget woes, the financial burden has shifted from the state onto students in the form of fee hikes, including an additional $400 in quarterly academic fees since 2000.

He worries that this is shutting out students who can't afford higher education and reducing campus diversity.

Ikeda said that Cal Poly followed all its rules in setting the vote for next week.

The university fulfilled the requirements to notify students -- established by the student-dominated Fee Advisory Committee -- after announcing the election in early March in advertisements in the campus newspaper, Ikeda said.

She said the university held two public forums at the end of winter quarter in March. Two are scheduled this week and another next week.

Ikeda acknowledged that one of the forums attracted just one student during finals week, but she said students typically don't begin to focus on elections until the final two weeks of a campaign.

The Fee Advisory Committee struggled with the timing of the election, Ikeda said, but decided not to put it on the same ballot as next month's election of student body officers.

"They didn't want to make it a campaign issue," she said.

Alison Anderson, president of Associated Students Inc. and co-chairwoman of the committee, couldn't be reached Monday.