UC Riverside Chancellor France Cordova told a faculty group Tuesday that she is concerned about how the campus will continue to grow in the face of budget cuts.

Some faculty members told Cordova that they were particularly worried that Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposed 40 percent increase in graduate student tuition will keep students from applying to the UC system. Fees would increase from $5,219 per year to $7,307 per year.

UCR officials plan, despite the fee increase, to boost graduate student enrollment by 125 and 150 students. Cordova stressed that UCR's future hinges on its ability to attract students with strong credentials.

"Our capacity for achieving these goals is threatened," Cordova said at the first of three budget forums scheduled this week.

"The graduate students are at the heart of a research institution," Cordova said.

Harry Tom, professor of physics, said the graduate fee increase will hurt the university's reputation in competing for grants, part of which pay graduate students assisting professors in research. Many graduate students pay their fees with this income. The fee increase, Tom said,will prompt students to seek higher pay, which, in turn, means professors may seek more grant money.

"You won't be able to comply with what you promised," Tom said.

Yang Ye, associate professor of comparative literature, said the graduate student tuition boost will hurt the university's ability to attract international students.

"In the long run, it is making this university provincial," Ye said.