Armed by unity, the Cal State University family is hoping to wrestle precious funding from state lawmakers with a series of rallies at the Capitol.

The first comes Monday when SF State's Associated Student Inc. hopes to fill three busloads of students for a trip to join an expected 3,000 others in Sacramento.

"Through rallying and subsequent lobbying our Legislators we hope to inform them of the investment in higher education that needs to be made," said Joey Francis, Vice-Chair of External Affairs with the California State Student Association.

As the largest group representing the CSU's 450,000 students, the CSSA has been rallying for the past six months against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed $312.9 million cut to the CSU 2008-09 budget.

In January, they passed a resolution condemning the cuts while calling on "the CSU family (students, Trustee, Chancellor, faculty, staff and alumni)" to follow suit.

And they have.

In the week following the student rally, the California Faculty Association will be kicking off two days of lobbying on April 28, on the same day that the Cal State administration joins alumni and donors for their Annual Legislative Day in Sacramento.

"That is very interesting," ASI VP of Student Affairs Abtin Forghani said of the joined forces. "It says that we all would like to survive and grow and not take a step back to the 1980s."

SF State President Robert Corrigan said he unsure they'll be sending three loaded buses to Sacramento--or that it's the way to go.

"If you say you're going to do it and don't show up, that sends a message," he said.

Corrigan spoke to Journalism students in the Humanities Building on Wednesday about his views on the crisis. While asserting the need to pressure state lawmakers, Corrigan said he is unconvinced that bringing thousands of students to march around the Capitol would really affect legislators.

More impressive than marching with lobbyists or sending mass e-mails, writing the representatives pen and paper letters with personal messages of support to the school system would work best, he said.

The school system enjoys strong ties with local lawmakers, including Assembly member Fiona Ma and State Senator Leland Yee. The former San Francisco supervisors are inviting about 10 student representatives to their Sacramento offices on Monday afternoon to spread their message.

It's the more conservative lawmakers from Southern California and Republican Governor Schwarzenegger that the CSSA is trying to reach out to, according to Forghani, who represents SF State on the CSSA Board. Concurrent to the march, there will be staged rallies in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Barbara.

"They always say 'no new taxes' but fee hikes every year are just another form of taxation," he said.

The cost of renting the three buses was originally left to ASI but, again, an alliance with the administration was made. Dean of Students Penny Saffold reportedly agreed to provide as much as 40 percent of the $4,000 needed using a discretionary fund.