As the state faces a projected $16-billion deficit, 10 percent cuts are being proposed across the board.
Cuts that would mean nearly $400 million less for state-run universities.
Thursday, CSU officials voiced their opposition to the governor's proposal at Fresno State.
"We're facing a $386 million cut that comes on top of a half-billion dollar cut that we experienced back in 2002 and 2005,” said CFA president Lillian Taiz.
Taiz said that's the equivalent of shutting down 2 CSU campuses and could translate into fewer classes and fewer opporunities for students to graduate from universities like Fresno State.
"A lot of my general ed classes, I had to fight to get in them... try and try, week after week... and it's really disruptive to the learning process,” said Fresno State student Daniel Loehrer.
Criminology major, William Choate said, as a junior, he's concerned that some classes needed to graduate on time, could be cut.
"We're seeing a few classes getting cut here and here, some I've taken already, some I haven't. So it's kind of sad to see some of these go,” Choate said.
According to Fresno State President, John Welty, the university is looking at an estimated $24 million in cuts.
They've already closed the application process for the ‘08 -‘09 year, which means 600 less students will be able to attend Fresno State.
"10,000 students will not be able to come into the CSU next year, that's 10,000 families, that could have been your son, your daughter,” said J.P. Moncayo.
But the state department of education said, the governor is doing the one thing that will help: reforming the state budget process once and for all, so that education is never again faced with these kinds of difficult cuts.
"Everybody's gonna have to make sacrifices somewhere and I suppose I'm willing to take a hit if it means we're gonna have a more stable economy here in the state of California," said Choate.
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