With recent budget cuts and the possibility of a $250 million trigger cut in November, the Cal State University has announced that only 10 of its 23 campuses will accept new students for spring 2013.
The exact number of students that the 10 campuses will admit in 2013 remains unclear. Most applications to those universities will be limited to community college students who have earned an Associate Degree for Transfer, according to a CSU press release.
Cal State Channel Islands, Chico, Fullerton, East Bay, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco and Sonoma are the only CSUs that will accept new applications in spring 2013.
Not all majors at these schools will be open to new applicants, as some majors have been deemed “closed,” according to CSU Mentor.
“For spring 2013, we are bringing enrollment to what our available funding level is,” CSU Spokesman Erik Fallis said.
Cal State Long Beach is one of 13 CSUs that will be closed to new applications in the spring.
“This is the third time in five years we have been forced to close for spring,” President F. King Alexander said. “If we were opened, finding classes for these students and our current students would prove even more difficult.”
Students applying to the CSU from a community college are required to have an Associate Degree for Transfer, in compliance with Senate Bill 1440. SB 1440 was designed to help ease the transition into a four-year university for community college students.
Under the bill, the CSU is required to admit community college students who have completed an Associate Degree for Transfer. The bill also states that students are not guaranteed admission for specific majors or campuses.
“I would be disappointed that I would have to gauge my future on if a college is ready for me,” Michael Tocco, a freshman mechanical engineering major, said. “It seems more often that education is becoming increasingly difficult to plan and work with.”
Some students, however, don’t see the enrollment cut as detrimental.
“I wouldn’t let this stop me from transferring into the CSU,” Cristina Chavez, a sophomore social work major, said. “I wouldn’t wait for another opportunity like this [being accepted into a school] pass me by.”
The CSU will be forced to cut $250 million more from its budget in November if Proposition 30, which will raise the state sales tax by one fourth of a percent to help fund state-sponsored education, fails to pass.
According to Fallis, the CSU Board of Trustees will discuss how the CSU will manage the potential trigger cut in their September meeting.