SAN MARCOS ---- Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes called Thursday for an end to the idea that the state budget somehow ought to be balanced by cuts to higher education.

Speaking to about 140 people as a guest of the "In the Executive Chair" series, sponsored by the CSUSM College of Business Administration, Haynes said California is poised at a risky juncture where a college education might become available only to those who can afford high costs.

The state's straitened economic times, she said, has led people to question "whether public higher education is indeed a public good ... is it a public right that connects to the economic well-being of the community?"

She said "that's the dialogue" as the state looks for ways to climb out of a budgetary morass that leaves spending on higher education largely up to the discretion of the Legislature.

"We have to get rid of that mind-set," Haynes said, "that we can balance the state budget on the backs of higher education."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed in January to cut the general fund appropriation for the California State University by 9 percent, or $2.4 million, and raise undergraduate tuition by 10 percent, or an average of $204. Adding on local campus fees, that would bring the annual bill at Cal State San Marcos to $2,822. The Cal State system would be forced to turn about 20,000 students away in the fall if the plan is approved by the Legislature, said Chancellor Charles B. Reed.

Cal State San Marcos has gone into a no-growth mode and estimates that 500 otherwise qualified students will be turned away for fall admission. CSUSM listed nearly 7,800 enrollees in the fall of 2003.

The CSU says it remains a bargain, however. Even with tuition hikes of 28.3 percent in 2003-04, the CSU lists itself lowest in tuition and fees among what it says are 16 comparable institutions. CSU's average of $2,572 ---- $2,618 at San Marcos ---- compares with the average of all 16 of $5,272. Next lowest would be the University of Nevada at Reno at $2,830. Rutgers tops the scale at $7,927.

Haynes, who in February became the third permanent president in the 15-year history of Cal State San Marcos, said budget pressures present her with the biggest challenge of her job: keeping morale up.

She said declining resources threaten to create a downward spiral in campus morale, making it essential that she serve as "optimist and cheerleader."

The theme of balance came up in other contexts as well Thursday as students, gathered in Academic Hall 102, asked the president how she managed to handle all her responsibilities.

For one thing, she said, when she leaves the campus for a trip or vacation, she does not call in to check up on how things are going. She said her staff knows not to make presidential decisions in her absence.

"I never call back," Haynes said. "Never. I assume my team is good. ... If your organization can't run without that continuous connection, I think there's something wrong."

To those obsessed with business back home when they're away on vacation, she said, "I say, 'Get a life.' "

"I don't think it's healthy or a whole lot of fun to get so serious about your work ---- or, for that matter, yourself ---- that you can't enjoy what you do, who you do with it, or put it down ... so you can enjoy life," she said. "I take my position very seriously. I take myself not very seriously."

On one of the serious notes, she was asked if she encountered discrimination and sexism ---- a so-called glass ceiling ---- as a woman in the higher reaches of university administration. Haynes not only said yes, but also that she is filling a fourth volume of a diary with observations on sexism and discrimination in higher education administration. Some of those notes have made it into "A Dream and a Plan," her recently released book about paths to leadership for women in human services.

Named in 1985 to administer the School of Social Work at the University of Houston, Haynes said, she was the only woman among 13 deans. She said that only 85 of some 460 presidencies of comprehensive universities are held by women, that they serve shorter terms than men and they less frequently move on to presidencies at other institutions. She became president of the University of Houston-Victoria in 1995.

"I believe that there is a glass ceiling still," the president said. "We may have raised it some, but it's still there."

Finally, asked to impart some words of wisdom to the students, Haynes said, "I hope that you choose to do what you like doing; that in the serious pursuit of your career, you be sure that it connects with your values."