Looks like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will keep his promise to students.

A 4.4 percent increase 8211; $211.7 million 8211; to the California State University system is proposed in Schwarzenegger&s 2005-06 budget pitch.

The proposed increase would bring the CSU budget to $2.6 billion.Shortly after Schwarzenegger took over office, he asked California&s college students to pay higher fees in exchange for extra funding towards their college education in the future.

Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez said the budget increase would push back three years of budget cuts that have accumulated to more than $500 million.

&No, it doesn&t restore all we have lost,& said Gonzalez in his spring address on Thursday. &And yes, it includes the additional fee increases for students. But the governor&s budget demonstrates an acknowledgement of higher education and the prospect of much better times ahead for the CSU campuses.

&Gonzalez said the figures in Schwarzenegger&s budget are not money in the bank until California&s state legislature&s July deadline to approve a budget.

Until then Gonzalez will not plan on the increase.

&At this point, however, we&ll plan based on what we know and exercise our best judgment in preparing for the coming year,& Gonzalez said.

Frank Whitlatch, Sac State interim vice president associate of public affairs, said there is a possibility of a budget shortfall.

&It&s a confusing system, we go in with the best estimate and hope we don&t have to make cuts,& Whitlatch said.

Because of a possible money surplus, Larry Glasmire, director of special programs and enrollment analysis, said that Sac State could look forward more to growth and funding for programs.

The new budget could make way for a 2.5 percent enrollment increase throughout the state. In comparison, Sac State received more than 18,000 applications before the priority filing period deadline for the fall 2005 semester, a 6 percent increase from last year.

Glasmire said there will be room to accommodate them.

Under the Higher Education Compact, the university-wide system will receive $101.2 million in student fee revenue that will become available in the fall.

Glasmire said a quarter of the student fee increases will go to students who need financial aid.

In November 2004, the CSU board of trustees approved an 8 percent fee increase for undergraduates and 10 percent for graduate students. Whitlatch said that fee increases will be made on a year-to-year basis.

Money from the state budget will be allocated to universities based on budget proposals and planning groups. Sac State will work with a base budget, and if the proposed state budget doesn&t pan out, adjustments will be made.

Those adjustments will come in cuts &all across campus,& Whitlatch said.

Glasmire said one possibility is to cut back on enrollment. Gonzalez said it was an important investment by California politicians to accept the lobbyists& and students& push for a budget increas, because the CSU system grants 51 percent of the state&s bachelor degrees each year.

CSU graduates make up one tenth of the workforce in the state.