When student Ashley Andreoni found out that she was pregnant last spring, she had a difficult decision to make: finish school or drop out to get a full-time job.

Andreoni, junior English major at Sacramento State, decided to stay in school. But she is worried that budget cuts and fee increases will make it difficult for her to graduate.

“I don’t have the luxury of waiting a semester to take classes that I need to graduate,” she said.

Andreoni was one of several speakers who addressed Sac State students, administration, faculty and staff at a rally to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts to the California State University system and student fee increases on April 16.

The rally was organized by Associated Students Inc. to get students involved in the fight against the proposed budget cuts, which include a 10 percent student fee increase for the CSU system.

More than 50 Sac State students and faculty members marched in a circle carrying picket signs to protest the budget cuts and fee increases.

“What do we want? Free education! When do we want it? Now!” the protestors chanted.

Robert Torres, ASI secretary of State Affairs, told the crowd: “It is time for students to stand up and tell the governor and legislature that education is a right.”

Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez said the CSU needs to stop the proposed cuts or there will be a fee increase. The state needs to roll back fees to make sure students get the affordable education they deserve, he said.

“If the legislature doesn’t invest in you, they are turning their backs on California’s future,” Gonzalez told the crowd.

In the past 10 years CSU undergraduate student fees increased by 86.4 percent from $1,890 per year in 1998-99 to $3,523 in 2007-08.

CSU spokesperson Paul Browning said the CSU Chancellor’s Office knows that keeping student fees low is important in order to ensure students access to the university system. The problem is that the CSU has only two sources of funding, the state’s general fund and student fees, he said.

“The Chancellor’s Office does not want to hinder access to the university, but sometimes fee increases are necessary,” Browning said.

In the last five years the CSU system has absorbed $566 million in state budget cuts, losing $326 million in fiscal year 2003-04 and $240 million in 2004-05.

Even with a fee hike of 10 percent this year, the CSU system would still be one of the least expensive public four-year universities, Browning said.

A 2007 MSN.com survey ranked the CSU as the third least expensive public, four-year universities. According to the survey, the University of Nevada was the cheapest followed by Florida State University.

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Lila Jacobs, California Faculty Association Sac State Chapter president said that budget cuts combined with fee increases have students paying more for fewer services. Increased class sizes and fewer course selections have an effect on the quality of education received by CSU students, she said.

“Professors can’t teach 60 students in a class the same way they could teach 40,” Jacobs said.

Curtis Grima, CSU Board of Trustees student member and ASI vice president of Academic Affairs, told the crowd at the rally of his own experience of working two to three jobs and using student loans to pay for his education.

Sac State students, administration, faculty and staff need to continue to work together to advocate solutions to the state’s budget crisis to the legislature, Grima said.

The Trustees will discuss fee increases for the 2008-09 school year at its May 15-16 meeting in Long Beach.

Grima believes that the proposed budget cuts and fee increases can be stopped by putting pressure on the governor and the legislature.

“A lot depends on students,” Grima said. “Whether or not they are going to take some time and make the effort to show up to events like this one.”

On Monday, approximately 50 Sac State students joined Grima and more than 2,000 University of California, CSU and community college students in a march from Raley Field in West Sacramento to the State Capitol to protest the proposed budget cuts and fee increases.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, whose office worked with student groups to organize the event, marched with students to show his support.

“There is no more important investment for California than students,” Garamendi told the students gathered at the Capitol’s north steps. “You are the intellectual infrastructure of California.”

Garamendi was followed on the podium by a number of the state’s democratic legislators including Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, Assembly members Julia Brownley and Anthony Portantino and state Sen. Darrell Steinberg who all assured the students that funding higher education in California is their priority and students’ concerns are being heard.

Torres said it was important for him to attend the Monday’s march and rally to voice his protest because he is a student leader at Sac State and the budget cuts and fee increases affect him as an individual.

“A 10 percent fee increase doesn’t sound like much, just $200 a semester,” Torres said. “But I already live paycheck to paycheck and I don’t know where the extra money is going to come from.”

“This is not a complicated problem,” Perata said. “We need to raise taxes to fund higher education.”

Andreoni believes that rather than raise student fees, the state should impose a 2 percent tax on the profits of the 104 Fortune 500 companies located in California, which include Chevron, Disney and Intel.

Andreoni said she is looking for a long-term solution to California’s budget crisis.

“I want higher education to be available for my daughter 17 years from now,” Andreoni said. “That won’t happen if we don’t fight.”

Todd Wilson can be reached at [email protected]

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Audio slideshow by Joleen Vincent.

Joleen Vincent can be reached at [email protected].