EDITORIAL BREAKING A PROMISE PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES INCREASINGLY OUT OF REACH FOR MANY.

SAY what you will about California - we have earthquakes, mudslides and fires; our residents can be flaky. But for all that our fellow Americans like to mock about this state, there's one thing they've long admired every bit as much as our nearly perfect weather: our public colleges.

The University of California and California State University systems boast campuses that rival or beat most private counterparts. Our vast network of community colleges offers quality, local education to anyone willing to take advantage of it.

All this education and the attendant opportunities have historically been available to everyone, regardless of wealth or income. That's the promise of California's 45-year of Master Plan for Higher Education.

But that promise is now in danger.

For decades, the price of public college education has continued to mount. In 1960, students needed to pay only $84 in incidental fees to attend UC. Today, it costs about $6,700 for a student to take a full-time class load - and that's not even including room, board and various other incidentals.

At CSU campuses, the figure is $3,100 - a sum that can still be daunting for middle-class families or students trying to work their way through college.

In just the last year, fees in both systems have shot up 10 percent, thanks in large part to budget cuts that the universities' administrators agreed to in a deal with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year. Fees may go up another 10 percent for 2006-07.

Community colleges still offer the best deal around, but even there, the same inflationary trend is at work. Two years ago community college fees were $11 a unit. Today they're $26.

The soaring prices affect more than just those paying them. An educated work force has long been the state's greatest asset. California's very economic future depends on its ability to continue offering a college education to all who can and are willing to use it.

Whether that takes more generous state funding, wiser spending practices at the colleges or some combination of the two, no effort must be spared. California's public colleges must remain the envy of the nation.