SACRAMENTO -- Marsha Bond, a geography student at Modesto Junior College, didn't need to pull out a map to show lawmakers why she won't move away to finish her undergraduate degree. Instead, she's waiting for the University of California at Merced to open.

"I don't have the option to find housing at most universities," said Bond, a 29-year-old single mother who works on her family's worm farm in Ceres. She spoke at a legislative hearing last month.

The school needs $20 million from the state to open by fall 2005, and the funding request is working through a legislative process that will stretch into June. A Senate budget subcommittee discussed UC Merced on Monday, but took no action.

It's students like Bond who university officials say show the need for a UC campus in the San Joaquin Valley.

About 3.4 percent of students from the San Joaquin Valley attend a UC school, compared with 7.7 percent of students from the rest of California.

There also are almost twice as many college graduates in the rest of California as in the San Joaquin Valley.

"The Central Valley is terribly underserved," said UC Merced Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey at Monday's hearing.

"We need to have that access and availability," added Sen. Jeff Denham, a Merced Republican whose district includes Stanislaus County.

Lawmakers on the three-member panel did not vote on the issue. They are waiting for Gov. Schwarzenegger's revised budget estimates to come out this month, which could mean more money and less cutting.

The UC system has faced $500 million in cuts over the past four years. Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, said more cuts will "shatter some dreams."

"I'm hoping that Mr. Schwarzenegger will find a magic pot of money," said Scott, chairman of the Higher Education Budget Subcommittee.

In the meantime, university officials in Merced are warning of empty dorms and classrooms and restless faculty.

"We're staying on top of it every step of the way," said Lindsay Desrochers, vice chancellor of administration at UC Merced, who attended Monday's hearing.

Schwarzenegger supports the plan. An Assembly budget subcommittee already signed off on it last month. Last week, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office agreed that $20 million was justified to open the campus on time, a crucial endorsement.

"We're about there, we just have to push it the last little bit," said Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews, a Democrat from Tracy whose district wraps into Merced County.

Crystal Wuebker, 23, a computer engineering major at Merced College who plans to transfer to UC Merced, told lawmakers last month that the funding dilemma is like solving an engineering problem for class.

"Engineering is thinking outside the box and knowing you sometimes have to step out of your comfort zone and make those hard decisions," she said.

"The benefits will be tenfold."