SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to propose a freeze on fee hikes at California universities next year, the first financial break for students in several years.

The 2006-07 budget plan will propose an additional $75 million for the University of California and $54.4 million for the California State University, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Both systems had voted to raise that much money with increased student fees for the fall 2006 semester. If state lawmakers approve Schwarzenegger’s spending plan, the UC and CSU systems would keep fees at the current level.

Administration officials typically release preliminary details of the governor’s budget before he submits it to the legislature, which he must do by Jan. 10.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said in November that an unexpected jump in tax income and ongoing spending cuts will raise $5.2 billion more than previously projected. That will more than cover what had been anticipated as a $4 billion shortfall for next year and leave a reserve of $1.2 billion.

Fees for UC and CSU students have soared in recent years, especially after regents for both systems struck a deal with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to make cuts and raise fees in return for gradual increases in state funding.

The deal was seen as a way to stabilize the budgets of institutions that had their funding cut as California endured multibillion dollar budget deficits. But it also has led to campus protests and criticism from Democrats who complained that the soaring fees have unfairly hurt middle- and working-class families.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, commended Schwarzenegger for proposing the freeze. He has been one of the legislature’s most vocal critics of the rising cost of a college education in the state.

As a UC regent, he voted against the board’s latest fee increase in November, its fifth in a row.

“Anytime you raise fees at the university, what you’re doing is raising taxes for those students and their families,” Nunez said in a telephone interview.

He said he hoped the proposal was a sign the governor was willing to work more closely with the Democrat-controlled legislature after this year’s session was dominated by the divisive special election.

“This is a very, very positive overture on the part of the governor,” Nunez said. “It’s an expression of good faith that he indeed is committed to working with Democrats by taking on an issue that we’ve been advocating for the last 14 months.”

The move is the latest by Schwarzenegger in an attempt to smooth his image heading into the new year after voters rejected his four “year of reform” initiatives in November. He previously settled a lawsuit over hospital staffing ratios that had angered a powerful nurses union and appointed a Democrat to be his chief of staff.

In November, regents with the 10-campus University of California voted to boost in-state undergraduate fees by 8 percent, to about $6,600. Including various campus fees, annual costs will be about $7,300 if the fees stand. That amount would represent an 89 percent increase for students since the 2001-02 academic year.

UC graduate students would face a 10 percent rise in fees to about $9,400 a year, including miscellaneous campus fees. Fees for professional schools would rise about 5 percent.

The CSU Board of Trustees voted in October to raise fees 8 percent for undergraduates and 10 percent for graduate students. With the increases, the 23-campus system will be charging $2,724 per year for undergraduates in 2006, about 90 percent more than students paid in 2001.

Students also pay campus fees, which this year averaged $644 annually.

Ultimately, Democrats would like to see higher education fees rolled back as a way to make college more affordable, Nunez said.

“These were taxes, and when the economy improves, we need to figure out another way to balance our budget rather than on the backs of our colleges and universities and the students who attend them,” he said.

Schwarzenegger’s budget plan also will add $11.9 million to raise the maximum amount of Cal Grants for students at private colleges and universities, the official said. The extra money would raise the maximum annual grant to $9,708 from $8,322.

Nunez said that move would return the Cal Grant program to its level of two years ago.