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California students have begun a series of meetings with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss affordability at state colleges and universities in the midst of early campaigning for this fall’s gubernatorial election.

In a meeting initiated by the governor, students from the University of California and California State University spoke with Schwarzenegger at his office in Sacramento last week to consider whether the budget could support a lengthened student fees freeze and increases to funding for Cal Grant scholarships, which are based on merit and need, said UC Student Association Legislative Director Linda Nguy.

“The governor’s office assured us that continuing the fees freeze was a priority, but they couldn’t give us anything definite,” said Anu Joshi, UCSA president.

Both Phil Angelides and Steve Westley, the candidates for the democratic primaries and Schwarzenegger’s potential rivals, have made ambitious promises for rolling back fees as part of their campaign platforms.

The chance the fee freeze will last more than this year lies on the health of state revenues, said Katherine McLane, spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger.

“The governor is optimistic that, as our revenues grow and improve, we can take the burden off of our students,” McLane said.

Though fees increased sharply though the 2005-2006 year, they will not increase for 2006-2007 as the governor allocated $125 million in state funds to buy out fee increases the UC Board of Regents had voted on last November.

Ruth Obel-Jorgensen, organizing director of the UC Students Association, said she is optimistic that student issues were a true priority and not only a campaign ploy.

“Of course all of this plays into the election, but Schwarzenegger isn’t the only one that does it, it’s Angelides and Westley too,” Obel-Jorgensen said. “But if it was not for students pushing this issue, this wouldn’t be on the table right now. Students should be proud candidates are using (improvement of higher education) as a platform.”

Joshi said she was excited about UCSA’s involvement in the governor’s decisions.

“The most important accomplishment last week was making a meeting with him in the future,” Joshi said. “It’s really historic that the students have such access to the governor.”

The meeting took place last Thursday the night before Schwarzenegger established the Strategic Growth Plan for Schools, a $10.4 billion obligation bond measure for state schools and colleges to be voted on in November.

“His office was very busy ... with negotiations and the fact that he made a special appearance showed that he cared and that we were a priority,” Nguy said.

The ballot measure would increase the maximum Cal Grants reward by more than a thousand dollars as well.

UCSA’s last meeting with Schwarzenegger’s office was December 2005 and was followed by the announcement of the fee freeze.

“It’s important that they think of us as an important constituent, and it says a lot about our organization,” Joshi said.

“For the last few months (the governor) has had very constructive back and forth dialogues with students and he hopes to continue that as a tradition throughout his administration,” McLane said.