Administrators and faculty at California State University announced a tentative contract agreement with the state Tuesday, eliminating faculty strikes that could have started next week.

The tentative agreement puts an end to a nearly two-year long dispute, with 94 percent of the faculty at six universities across the state voting in favor of authorizing a strike.

The tentative deal boosts average salary for most professors by 21 percent. The pay for a tenure-track faculty member will go from $74,000 to $90,749 over four years, while the average salary for a full-time professor with tenure will also get a boost from $86,000 to $105,465, CSU officials said. The deal will now go to CSU trustees for approval.

Faculty members said the salary portion of the tentative agreement, which was the main issue of contention, will help the faculty to catch up with the cost of living increases in campus cities such as Los Angeles San Francisco and San Jose.

The final details of the agreement will be worked out in the next couple of weeks. The agreement covers more than 23,000 faculty members — including non-tenured lecturers and coaches — who instruct more than 400,000 students on 23 campuses in the state. The total pay package is projected to cost CSU more than $400 million over the next four years, administrators said.