HELENA -- Facing a new and uncertain budget process, Gov. Brian Schweitzer urged the higher education community Thursday to stand behind his proposal to freeze tuition for Montana students at current levels over the next two years.

''This game is not over at all,'' he told the state Board of Regents, which met at the Helena College of Technology. ''In fact, it's just like a football game. During the last two minutes, a lot can happen.''

Schweitzer included $50 million for the tuition freeze in his proposed budget, killed in February by House Republicans and replaced with six separate budget bills. Hearings on those bills begin next week.

Funding for the tuition freeze still is in the GOP's higher education proposal, but it's uncertain whether it will remain there.

Republicans wanted to cut tuition by $500 for in-state students, but that proposal died in January on a tie vote in the House.

Now more than ever, Schweitzer said, it is important that the Board of Regents and campus leaders ''stand together'' and support his College Affordability Plan.

''We're going to make sure that every family in Montana can live the dream of sending the next generation to college,'' he said.

Schweitzer also pitched his proposals to fund voluntary all-day kindergarten statewide and expand his post-secondary scholarship program approved by the 2005 Legislature. Both bills await hearings in the closely divided House after easily passing the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

''We're all in this together,'' Schweitzer said. ''This higher education world is attached by every single page of this budget.''

After the governor left, Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns said she and the regents remain committed to Schweitzer's proposed tuition freeze. Stearns said she planned to testify in support of the proposal at next week's budget hearings.

Jan Lombardi, the governor's education adviser, also urged campus leaders to pay attention to the budget for kindergarten through high school. About $96 million already has been shaved off that proposal, and more cuts could be coming, she said.

''We're not going to have a strong university system without strong students,'' Lombardi said.