University of California regents meeting Wednesday in San Francisco said they likely will approve a 32 percent hike in student fees.

The increase would push the price of a year at UC to $10,302 for undergraduates and comes on the heels of a 9.3 percent increase approved in May.

"To students: I'm sorry, I regret it, but the state has stopped building the highways to higher education, and they've started building toll roads," UC President Mark Yudof said.

The two-part increase is scheduled to be voted on in November.

"Everyone's been asked to take a share of the pain," Yudof said, but middle class families will bear the burden of the fee increase.

For many families, the proposed increase comes at exactly the wrong time – and may mean for some the dream of a freshman year at a UC campus has vanished.

Adrianna Gonsalves, 17, a senior at McClatchy High School, gets good grades and has long had her eye on UC Santa Cruz.

"It would be a dream come true," she said.

But her mom, Michelle Rochon of Sacramento, works for the state, and has just seen her pay drop, thanks to three furlough days a month.

Now, with news that fees are likely to skyrocket, mother and daughter are talking about an alternative plan: two years at community college in Sacramento while they save up enough money to pay for a transfer to UC for the final two years of college.

When UC officials announced a 9.3 percent fee increase last May, they gave no sign that further fee hikes were on the table.

The proposed two-part increase boosts fees midyear by an additional 15 percent, or $585 for the spring semester, according to a regents finance committee report. Then fees will rise another 15 percent for the 2010-2011 year, about $1,344.

Student fees represent only part of the cost of school. The total tab for a year at a UC undergraduate program – including fees, room and board, health insurance and other costs – averages about $26,400, according to Ricardo Vasquez, spokesman for the president's office.

Protesters temporarily delayed Wednesday's regents meeting, and about 15 of them – including university employees protesting furloughs and other cuts – were arrested amid a crowd chanting "Whose university? Our university!"

Regent Eddie Island said Wednesday he would vote for a fee increase for the first time since he was appointed to the board in 2005.

"To those who say I've gone over to the dark side: no, I've gone to the side of necessity, this one time, this one budget cycle, this one proposal," Island said.

Lt. Governor John Garamendi, who also is a member of the Board of Regents, said, "There is no reason to increase fees by 30 percent."

Garamendi argued that the fee hikes aren't enough to backfill the budget shortfall.

Patrick J. Lenz, UC vice president for budget, said the fee increases would help mitigate a $1 billion to $2 billion budget gap that will persist into the 2010-2011 school year.

In addition to the fee increase, savings are coming from faculty layoffs and salary cuts, reducing freshman enrollment and increasing fees at professional graduate schools, such as engineering and business programs. The president's office and other high level UC officers have already agreed to reduce their salaries by 5 percent.

The fee hikes will generate $117.2 million this year and $291.7 million next school year. Regents will set aside $146 million for financial aid, according to the regents' finance committee report.

Student Regent Jesse Bernal, a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara's Gevirtz School of Education, said mid-year fee hikes unfairly change the financial outlook for students who had to select their schools in the spring.

"Education is not purchased on a quarter-by-quarter or semester-by-semester basis. It's purchased on a year-to-year basis," Bernal said. "Students are locked into their college attendance decisions at this time."

For families with students already attending UC, the size of the increase will poke a big hole in already planned budgets.

"I'm going to have to borrow more money or give up something," said Nancy Greenlee of Sacramento, whose son Ben is a sophomore at UC Santa Cruz. "I haven't figured that out yet."

Her daughter just graduated from UC Santa Barbara. "I'm fortunate I'm not paying for two (students) this year," Greenlee said.

Joan Adams, a counselor at Mira Loma High School, said the 30-percent proposal came as a shock to high school counselors statewide who already see many families struggling with daily bills in a bad economy.

"It really sends things out of whack when the economy is in the tank, and people have only so many dollars to spend," she said. "They get kind of blindsided by it."

She said she worries that California is harming itself in the long run by making it harder for the next generation of workers to get advanced and professional degrees necessary to maintain a competitive work force.

"How are our future professionals going to be impacted by this?" she said. "Are we going to be losing as a state those well-qualified professionals who normally get educated at UC?"

Call The Bee's Julie Johnson, (916) 321-5287.