As President Clinton proposes a 90-cent increase in minimum wage, many local store owners are turning to their record books to calculate what this will mean to them. And not all of the figures look promising.

Employing about 100 University students, Ray Agostinelli, general manager of McLanahan Student Store, 414 E. College Ave., said if the increase comes all at once, he would be forced to cut back on employees. He is not too worried now because he said he thinks the 90 cents would be implemented gradually.

"If it was a gradual increase, I'd have to look at business and decide from there what to do. But it's pretty tough on a business to have such a great percentage increase," Agostinelli said.

Either way, the increase would have an effect on management practices.

"We wouldn't put up with as much people being late or absent. We'd be stricter," Agostinelli said. If a student who had partied too late came in five minutes late, he would have to think about how many people were lining up to earn $5.15 an hour, he said.

Ivan Perry (senior-premedicine) said he is not concerned for students but for the economy.

"I think it will really strap business owners. People who work for $4.25 aren't going to do much better at $5.15," he said.

But Anne Hanson (freshman-music) said she would take the risk of losing her job to more experienced employees for the extra money.

"Rent, food, the cost-of-living are all going up -- how can we live on minimum wage? I'll take my chances," Hanson said.

And though Mark Biega, owner of Allen St. Video, 232 S. Allen St., thinks many students may deserve the raise, he said the employers will have difficulty coming up with the extra money.

For employees, a 90-cent wage increase means employers must pay more to workmen's compensation fund, the unemployment compensation fund and Social Security.

At Baby's Burgers and Shakes, 131 S. Garner St., a concern is a decrease in motivation, said Scott Krammes, general manager.

Cooks start at $4.50 an hour, and Baby's can afford to pay $5.50 to its best cooks, Krammes said.

"To pay everybody $5.15 . . . that would kill us," he said, adding that cooks who already earn $5.50 also deserve the extra 90 cents. "It would be unfair of us to not give it to them."

Krammes said he wonders what would happen to motivation when the extra money for employees' hard work does not come through.

"Sometimes a 'Hey, you're doing a good job,' doesn't cut it," Krammes said, noting that hard work deserves a raise.

Ye Old College Diner, 126 W. College Ave., would be in danger because the number of employees they currently have is just enough, owner Dan Pivirotto said.

"We don't have people sitting around counting paper clips," he said.

And trying to keep their prices in the lower niche will be difficult if wages increase. But it is difficult to raise them and keep business, he said.

"We could put a sign in the window that says, 'We pay our employees $10 an hour.' People will say, 'That's great, but I'm not eating there because your prices are too high,' " Pivirotto said.

The wage increase is pointless anyway, he said, because if someone can't raise a family on $4.25 an hour, they will not be able to raise one on $5.15.

"Why not raise (minimum wage) to six or seven or eight or nine dollars?" he said. Minimum wage jobs are for students and part-time workers, not people trying to raise a family, he added.

Still, Pivirotto said he has his own plan worked out to avoid raising prices.

"I think I'll stand on a corner and start canning like everyone else in State College does," he said.