LOS ANGELES — University of California administrators faced tough questions about their spending priorities Wednesday as the system’s leaders took up next year’s budget.

Outside a meeting of the system’s governing board, held at UCLA, student protesters rallied for more funding to boost enrollment of underrepresented minorities. They also called on UC leaders to challenge Proposition 209, the ballot measure forbidding consideration of race in public hiring, contracting and education.

There was dissension inside the meeting room, too, with some regents saying they were unhappy with the budgeting process and the amount proposed for outreach programs to recruit and prepare disadvantaged students.

Regent Eddie Island said the $31 million proposed for student outreach seemed low.

“I’m not convinced that much of an effort was made at all to look at a higher level of funding to assist in the effort to achieve diversity,” Island said.

UC administrators said the figure was realistic in light of the limited resources available and enough to keep basic programs going.

After Chairman Gerald Parsky said he would make sure the board were more involved in the budget process, the regents finance committee voted unanimously for the $3.3 billion state-funded operating budget for 2007-08, up 8 percent from this fiscal year.

The budget, which was expected to be ratified by the full board Thursday, does not include a fee hike, although that could change if the university does not get extra state funding.

Trustees of the California State University, took a similar approach, approving a budget Wednesday that assumes the state will provide enough extra money to avoid a fee hike.

The CSU meeting, held in Long Beach, was also the site of protest where 22 faculty members staged a sit-in while hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside, forcing the board to adjourn early. The protesters demanded student fee rollbacks and for better contract negotiations and complained about executive perks.

At UCLA, the discussion about the University of California’s budget also reflected concerns about executive compensation. Regents have taken a more activist role in the system’s finances since being embarrassed in the past year by revelations that some UC executives were quietly paid millions above their reported salaries.

Fallout from the compensation flap continued Wednesday, with board members meeting in closed session to talk about possible consequences for skirting UC pay policies.

On Thursday, regents were set to take another symbolic step, considering taking control of UC President Robert C. Dynes’ budget by treating it as a separate item.

The overall budget approved for next year includes money for about 5,000 new students and salary increases for faculty and staff, increases that were previously negotiated with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a long-term compact.

The agreement with the governor calls for annual fee increases of up to 10 percent, although last year the governor, who releases his budget recommendations in January, provided enough money to avoid hikes. The new UC budget assumes about $71 million in extra funding to avert a potential 7 percent student fee hike next year.

California State University has a similar funding agreement with the governor.

While regents met at UCLA, about 200 students also rallied in support of diversity.

Black and Hispanic enrollment dropped sharply after UC dropped affirmative action in 1998. The numbers have recovered since then looking at the system as a whole, although less so at highly competitive UC Berkeley and UCLA.

About 100 black students enrolled in a freshman class of 4,800 at UCLA this fall.

“Color is diminishing from this campus,” said Rev. Brenda Lamothe of First AME Church in Los Angeles, who has a daughter at UCLA.