SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Big college tuition hikes and overcrowded classes are on the horizon if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed state budget cuts are adopted later this year, education advocates said Monday.

Many University of California students waved signs on the north lawn of the Capitol in opposition to the governor's plan to raise UC tuition by 7 percent.

State officials are grappling with a $14.5 billion budget deficit that some say may be bigger than earlier expected.

Schwarzenegger's plan would cut money for UC and raise undergraduate tuition from $6,636 per year to about $7,300 a year.

The UC system is warning that without additional money from the state, it will not be able to expand enrollment for future classes, beginning with the 2009 school year.

Students said that increase breaks the state's promise to provide access to higher education.

"With an increase in the number of appliations, and if there's going to be a freezing or even a decrease of enrollment, where does that put these other students?" asked Gregory Cendana, a student at University of California, Los Angeles. "It's going to have an ... impact not only on the UC system, but the (California State University) system and even the community colleges, which are already impacted.

"And so, I feel like with that there's going to be even more students who are going to be left out of higher education," Cendana added.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a Democrat and member of the UC board of regents, said he believes California is abandoning efforts to supply higher education to residents.

In response, Schwarzenegger's administration said it does not want to make such cuts. But given the current budget problems and a slump in revenues, the state must make cuts somewhere to keep finances in the black.