LONG BEACH -- It was back to school for students at Cal State Long Beach on Monday. Time to scramble for classes, line up for books and form those study groups.

The first day of school comes at a time when students may be facing future fee increases proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help cope with the state's massive budget deficit.

Students already have seen their fees rise twice last year, by 10 percent and by 30 percent raising the cost for a full-time undergraduate from $1,744 per year to $2,362 per year.

Those hikes amounted to about $300 per semester for 19- year-old sophomore Melodie Murphy. She works two jobs and her mother pays for her school. The hikes have forced her mother to pick up more hours, she says.

Senior Annette Vartanian saw her bill jump $400 per semester. Vartanian, a 22-year-old who works and goes to school, used her credit cards to handle the additional fees.

"I have to go to school and that's the only way I can pay for it,' Vartanian said.

Financial aid helped 18-year- old Norma Shea pay for fee increases. But she worries that her dad's new job may raise his income enough to disqualify her from financial aid.

"I don't have the money, but I want an education,' she said.

Sharon Stukey's financial aid paid for the fee increases, so they didn't affect her much. The 22- year-old applied math major says using CSULB's online registration system made signing up for classes easier.

The online system, unveiled in the fall of 2003, also allows students to print transcripts and change telephone numbers and addresses.

But Stefanie Zankich, a 19- year-old sophomore, wasn't so lucky. She says the online system makes it easier but classes fill up more quickly. Her friends successfully registered online for courses that were full when she tried to get in a short time later. She got wait-listed.

"This time it was especially hard,' she lamented.

Business major Pamela Trisanavai has financial aid, but the fee increases have forced her to budget for food, transportation and other expenses. She got all the classes she wanted but says the business school is too crowded.

"I think they should limit the (number of students) that get in,' she said.

Overall, enrollment at the university this spring is estimated at between 32,000 and 32,500 down from 34,728 last fall. This year, the university lowered its spring enrollment target by 1 percent in response to mid-year budget cuts.

It may have been only the first day of school, but 26-year-old sophomore Alex Zewdi already has suffered disappointment. He just discovered that his desired instructor for his black studies course no longer teaches at the university.

Even with that setback at the start of the year, "so far it's all right,' he said.