SAN DIEGO -- Some professors at the University of California, San Diego are speaking out about the UC system's fee increases, 10News reported. Student fees will be going up 32 percent to help the state close a $1.2 billion budget gap.

While many students have been noisy, UC faculty members have remained much quieter about the fee increases, but some said they are concerned.

"The fee increases are a disaster for the students," said Bill Hodgkiss.

Frank Powell and Hodgkiss are professors and the vice-chair and chairman of the UCSD Academic Senate, and both said they have worries about the university's future.

"I think both the accessibility and the quality are in jeopardy," said Powell.

Both men said the faculty is determined to maintain the quality of a UC education, but wonder who will get that education.

"The concern that's expressed by all of us as faculty is that the increases will lead to a lack of diversity on campus," said Hodgkiss.

Powell said, "We don't want to be an institution where only the wealthy can afford to attend it."

Financial help is available, as the UC system has a program where students whose families earn $70,000 a year or less are eligible for free tuition -- that applies to about 30 percent of UC students. Powell and Hodgkiss said they worry about students whose families make a little more than $70,000.

UC fees will be going up to $11,290 a year, compared to the private University of Southern California at $37,000 a year. In comparison, Arizona residents pay only $6,800 a year at Arizona State University.

Recent protests might not have averted the fee increases but they might have raised public awareness about the problem.

"The people of California are going to have to decide where they want to spend their money. Do we spend it on prisons or on higher education?" said Powell.

Powell said he is concerned the UC system will be hit even harder if voters don't protest and if the state's budget problems continue.