POMONA - Cal Poly Pomona students learned this week that they and all other Cal State University students will be paying more for their education next fall.

Reactions on campus were mixed to the CSU Board of Trustees' decision to increase their fees 8 to 10 percent. Some students realized the need while others balked at the move, citing the already burdensome costs of education.

Cal Poly Pomona senior Andrew Morris said he doesn't mind the roughly $200 fee increase because he believes his education is inexpensive compared to other universities.

"We're very fortunate compared to other states because the cost of our public education is low," the 35-year-old student said. "We have it made here. People don't know the overall picture."

The CSU board made the same argument before it voted Thursday to increase undergraduate tuition 8 percent, and 10 percent for graduate students. That comes out to roughly between $186 and $215 for undergraduates and $286 for graduate students.

With the fee increase, CSU students will pay $2,554 less than the average tuition of comparable universities in the country, according to Board of Trustees documents.

Next year, tuition will be $3,102 for undergraduates, $3,504 for teacher credential students and $3,684 for graduate students.

Anurag Singh, 22, said any increase is going to hurt students.

"It's been hard," the engineering student said about paying for school. "I can't wait to get out and make decent money so I can spend more money."

Graduate student Sonia Ortega, 28, said she isn't worried. When she earned her bachelor's degree from UCLA in the mid-1990s, she spent more than what she will pay next year.

"It's not high enough to make me drop out," she said.

The tuition increase is part of the higher education compact between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the CSU to bring in more revenue to the state-funded university system.

The fee hike will pump $101.2 million into the CSU, which has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over the past few years to the state budget crisis.

Student fees only pay for a fraction of the education students receive. Even with the increase, CSU students will pay just 22.7 percent of the cost of their schooling.

Regardless, some Cal Poly Pomona students who work their way through college don't like the hike.

"That increase kind of hurts the pocket," said Linneth Lopez, 24, an engineering student.