Clayton Valley High senior Madison Altamirano has her sights on the University of California.

She has no interest in community college, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has suggested about 3,200 UC-eligible students should go in the fall to save the state money.

UC regents expressed skepticism Thursday at their meeting in San Francisco that any students headed for a four-year university would agree to change their plans.

"I would be willing to bet most students who don't get in and are offered a community college will simply go someplace else," said ex officio Regent Barbara Bodine.

Under the budget plan Schwarzenegger unveiled last week, it will cost more for those who do get into UC to attend, and there will be less financial aid available to applicants from middle-income families such as Altamirano's.

"That makes it frustrating," said Altamirano, who has applied to UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. "We're doing our part. They should be able to do their part."

The regents warned that the proposed budget cuts look even more severe in the context of the many cuts made in the last year.

"The other budget cuts were worse than this, and I think we really need to look at ... what's happened to us over a period of several years," said Regent Richard Blum.

The governor proposes cutting freshmen enrollment at the UC and California State University systems next fall by 10 percent and redirecting those students to a community college for two years with a guarantee that they could transfer, a process called dual admissions.

With that proposal, and by failing to fund predicted enrollment growth, as many as 8,200 UC-eligible seniors could be turned away this year.

Schwarzenegger would help close the state's budget gap by trimming from the more expensive and selective institutions in California's higher education system and giving a little more to the workhorses -- the 108 community colleges.

So while making a net cut to UC and CSU for fiscal 2004-05 of more than $200 million each, the governor would actually give the community colleges an increase of $100 million, or 1.8 percent, to accommodate the predicted influx of students who would have gone to UC and CSU.

Many argue that this shift would break a promise outlined in the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education that guaranteed a spot to all eligible students at UC or CSU. Altamirano has always assumed that if she took the right courses and earned high enough grades and test scores, she could attend a UC campus.

"Knowing that 10 percent will not be allowed in even though we're eligible, that's hard," she said.

But others think that as long as the state promises students like her a spot at UC after completing two years at a community college, California will be adhering to the spirit of the master plan. Forty-four years ago, no one anticipated that the higher education system would grow as big as it has, said Joni Finney, vice president for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education in San Jose. "Overall, my initial reaction is that (the governor) has been willing to put some things on the table that haven't been on the table."

Not only is the governor talking seriously about dual admissions, he proposes reducing the state subsidy for UC's professional schools and increasing graduate fees at UC and CSU by 40 percent. However, one clear "boondoggle" Finney sees in his proposal is the $10 million to open UC Merced, the university's 10th campus, in 2005-06.

"If we have access issues, it's the most expensive type of education to offer," she said. "We should be increasing capacity at community colleges in the Central Valley. That's the most effective way to try to provide undergraduate education."

UC this year started a version of the dual admissions program, but it is different from the governor's proposal in a key respect: It's for high school graduates on the cusp of eligibility. Nor is it clear how popular the program will be.

Several regents said Thursday that if the community colleges are going to play a greater role in educating eventual UC graduates, they are concerned that the colleges don't all offer the high-level math and science courses that students transferring to UC need to compete effectively.

Bodine wondered if a two-tier system would develop between the schools that can readily transfer students and those that can't.

Another area the governor wants to change is the fee fluctuation at UC and CSU.

Schwarzenegger would link future undergraduate fee increases to per-capita personal income and cap any annual increase at 10 percent following a 40 percent increase since December 2002. Education analysts and officials applaud the idea of a schedule as a way to help families plan financially for college. But some fear the cash-strapped university systems would simply raise fees by the maximum 10 percent every year.

"They can always use the money," said Robert Moore, executive director of the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

Altamirano is especially worried about the governor's plan to reduce financial aid for middle-income students. Among other things, Schwarzenegger would cut the maximum family income for new Cal Grant recipients by 10 percent. He would stop increasing Cal Grant awards to match rising UC and CSU fee levels. And UC expects it would have to cut financial aid to students from families with incomes between $60,000 and $90,000.

Altamirano is applying for every kind of grant, scholarship and loan she can. She also expects to work during college.

"They are making something that is so valuable harder for us to reach," she said.