SAN DIEGO -- Emotions are running high as 25,000 workers will be told their pay could be cut to help close the state's multibillion-dollar budget gap.

The University of California system is expected to face a 19 percent cut in state funding.

The UC system employs more than 170,000 faculty and staff members at its 10 campuses and five medical centers throughout the state -- including 25,000 employees in San Diego at the University of California, San Diego, UCSD Medical Center and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

On Thursday, UCSD staffers met with the chancellor to hear their options and to air their concerns.

More than 1,000 staff members showed up to the meeting. So many people showed up that some had to be turned away.

10News' cameras were not allowed in the meeting but as for the issues discussed, the information was made available on a faculty and staff Web site.

Workers have three options on the table:

Option 1: Reduce salaries by four percent for people making less than $46,000 a year; 8 percent for the rest

Option 2: 21 days of furlough without pay

Option 3: 12 days of furlough and a 3.4 percent pay cut

"We all have to make sacrifices but what they're proposing, the three options, I don't think … no, we need another option," said Gianina Ward, who works at the UCSD Psychiatry Department.

"We're all a bit disappointed. We're all a bit stressed out," said one employee.

Mark Rasmussen, who works in the business services department, makes just a few hundred dollars over the cutoff so he is facing the larger cut.

"If this means we don't have to have layoffs, that's the one big plus for me," said Rasmussen.

10News spoke to UCSD Chancellor Marye Ann Fox, who said the school could face $90 million in cuts from the state.

"It's a significant fraction of our budget and one which is difficult to address any other way," said Fox.

Others pointed out that many salaries are paid by federal grants.

UCSD researcher Joel Hallmark said, "Like my job, we're funded by the National Institutes of Health. That's not state money, it's federal money and it should not be taken away."

"Well the reason for standard reductions is that we're all part of the same family regardless," said Fox.

10News was told that most people in the meeting favored the furlough option, but not many seemed happy.

UCSD receives only 12 percent of its funding from the state, with most its money coming from student fees, federal grants and donations.

Cuts are still imminent, and the options will be presented to the president of the UC system and then the Board of Regents next month.