UC San Diego hopes to find out by late fall or early winter whether it will be invited to become the 10th member of the Big West Conference.

If approved, the Tritons would become the first addition since the University of Hawaii in 2012.

The Big West, which does not sponsor football, is home to 14 of UH’s 21 sports teams.

The way was opened for UCSD to apply when undergraduate students overwhelmingly voted to authorize a hike in fees to finance the Tritons’ move from Division II membership to Division I. The vote, which was announced Tuesday, was 6,137 to 2,567 with 124 abstentions.

Athletic fees would rise from the current $129.38 per quarter to $289.38 per quarter over a three-year period, adding at least $10 million to the current $9.4 million the Tritons spend on their 23-team athletic program.

Under terms of the referendum, the school cannot begin collecting the increased fees until after UCSD is admitted to the Big West.

UCSD athletic director Earl Edwards said he expects the Big West to start its evaluation process in the fall. “We’re hoping that we can get an invitation soon after that,” Edwards said. “My hope is that it will be in the fall or early winter.”

Membership would require the approval of a super majority (seven of nine) existing members.

Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell said, “The procedure would be to create an expansion committee, which would report back to the council, which would then make a recommendation to the board of directors.”

Farrell said, “It would be premature to speculate on their chances.”

UH athletic director David Matlin declined to comment on how Hawaii might vote, saying more information was required.

If approved, UCSD would have to go through a four-year NCAA transition process before it could compete for conference titles or postseason play.

Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji said, “I think they are an attractive California school that could attract some pretty good volleyball players. But it would take them — or anybody coming from Division II — time to get up to speed in terms of Division I.”

The Tritons already compete with Hawaii in men’s volleyball in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

UCSD, which has been highly ranked in across-the-board performance by its teams in Division II, recently opened a $6.89 million baseball facility and a $4.3 million athletic performance center.