Sac State Stays 1-Aa

Football and other sports will remain at the Division 1-AA level at Sacramento State University, after students passed a financial referendum.

Students voted to raise student fees from $5 per semester to $45 per semester to pay for football and other sports.

Administrators had warned that failure of the referendum would have brought the end of the 40-year-old football program.

The student vote means the athletic program will see about a $400,000 boost to its present $2.5 million annual budget. The increase will be phased in through the 1998-99 school year.

The vote was necessary after the athletic department built up a $1.1 million deficit over the past four seasons.