Riverside City College was one of five rally points stretching from San Diego to Sacramento.

Anthony Muniz, RCC student government vice president, delivered a passionate statement to a handful of students during a morning news conference scheduled to coincide with similar events throughout the state.

"Education is a means to a better life," said Muniz, who said he was disappointed in the turnout.

Thousands of students may be denied access to education because classes won't be available and projected cuts to financial aid and counseling services will have a significant effect on students, who would otherwise enroll, Muniz said.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed 10 percent across-the-board cuts for nearly all state programs to combat an estimated $8 billion budget shortfall through June 2009.

Diane Woodruff, California Community Colleges chancellor, said that as many as 50,000 students could be kept from California community colleges and another 18,000 students would not receive financial aid under the governor's proposal.

Cal State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed said more than 10,000 eligible students were turned away after the university system closed admissions in March. Budget cuts would reduce student services, counseling and access to libraries and laboratories, Reed said.

University of California students would pay higher fees while seeing class sizes grow, services decline and delays in earning degrees, UC Provost Rory Hume said.

Schwarzenegger press secretary Aaron McLear said Monday that the governor understands the ramifications of the 10 percent cuts.

"The only other option is to raise taxes, but the governor does not believe raising taxes is the way to solve our chronic year-to-year budget problem," McLear said.

The proposed cuts come at a time of growing demand. During the next two years, a record number of California high school students are expected to graduate.

UC campuses admitted a record number of freshmen for 2008-09 after accepting 4,300 more students than state funding covered for the current year.

A study by the Campaign for College Opportunity released last week found that the UC and Cal State systems have not recovered from the more than $500 million hit they took from 2002 to 2005, after the dot-com crash. Funding since 2005 has not made up for the earlier cuts.

A report on the proposed budget cuts by UC's Academic Senate Committee on Planning and Budget said the UC system has been suffering for years from what one member called a "hollowing out."

"From a distance, all appears normal; once one goes inside, the damage is clear," the report said.

Faculty and staff are struggling to maintain quality with reduced resources.

The report offered some examples of challenges at various UC campuses, which were not identified.

They included:

·         A college of biological sciences where almost all upper-division courses for majors are offered only every other year.

·         Faculty office phones in one department were cut off to raise money for wireless connections. Faculty members now have to use their own cell phones.

·         The head of office staff did one year's scheduled office painting by herself at night and on weekends.