Weekday mornings on campus, Itzel Lopez struggles to find a copy of The New York Times.

“The way of getting a copy of the newspaper is to come early in the morning,” Lopez said. “Later, during the day, there are no copies.”

As a last resort, Lopez finds herself skimming through the library tables searching for an abandoned copy of the paper.

Students and faculty are acknowledging the decrease of­ the newspaper on campus.

Kirsten Hernandez, the Fresno State campus distribution manager of The New York Times, has an answer for the scarcity of available copies.

“Last semester there was already a shortage of newspapers on campus and then they continued to decrease this semester,” Hernandez said.

The numbers have dropped from 314 newspapers per day last semester to 200 this fall, Hernandez said.

The Associated Students, Inc. made this decision based on its new budget for this year.

ASI coordinator Tara Powers-Mead explained the decrease in distribution.

“When you are given the budget, you have to look at where the need is, and evidence suggests that students gravitate more towards The Fresno Bee, and staff and faculty tend to pick up The New York Times,” Powers-Mead said. “It is a service that is free and open to the campus community, so we are going to put our budget on to what benefits the students most.”

For the 2011-2012 school year, the budget allotted $44,000 for the readership program, Powers-Mead said.

This year, the budget dropped to $40,000.

ASI takes into consideration the needs of the students and the cost of each newspaper copy. The Fresno Bee is sold to ASI at 10 cents per newspaper, compared to 60 cents per copy of The New York Times, Powers-Mead said.

The decrease in available copies has raised concerns among teachers who recommend the their students read The New York Times on a daily basis.

“I walked by the newspapers’ boxes and saw that there weren’t any at McKee-Fisk and (the) social science building,” said Michael Becker, a professor of political science. “It is a big problem for me in social science because this is where we teach, where we have our offices and where the students are.”

Student body President Arthur Montejano said students can express their concerns to ASI.

“If students feel that there needs to be more newspapers out there, we are open to that feedback,” Montejano said.

ASI, in cooperation with The New York Times, will soon offer a free online subscription to the newspaper to 200 students this semester.

Powers-Mead said she is not sure how the students will be determined.

But for readers like Lopez, the print version is the only option.

“I like the hard copy,” Lopez said. “When you have a hard copy you can read it during a 10 minute break.”

Lopez said she spends most of her time on the computer doing homework, and enjoys the time she gets to relax and read the printed newspaper.