CSU Admission & Enrollment Updates

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CSU Enrollment

The CSU has entered a new budget environment that will affect enrollment. The 2003-04 budget will cause CSU's 2003-04 enrollment targets to be reduced essentially to levels that cut funded growth for this year nearly in half. Moreover, legislative budget language asserts no enrollment growth for 2004-05. These legislative mandates not only are direct and clear, but also represent wholly new expectations from those who fund public higher education. Of paramount importance is the unquestionable fact that California State University funding has declined to a level at which quality will erode. Adding more students to already inadequate funding will only exacerbate this problem.

CSU has also reached a point where true access to needed courses, adequate courseloads, and an efficient path to graduation are threatened. Admitting and enrolling more students that would cause CSU to exceed its funded enrollment targets will only block authentic access. "For reasons having to do with quality and access, we must not exceed enrollment targets," CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said. "Such an event would falsely convey that current funding is adequate to maintain our high access and quality."

Faced with the largest budget cuts in its history, the California State University system has outlined plans to reduce next academic year's enrollment growth. CSU campuses will put into practice several enrollment management practices to control and manage enrollments within the enrollment targets funded by the state. A number of steps may be taken by campuses to control enrollments such as no longer acception admission applications for a particular major, class level, or academic term. In addition, many CSU campuses may cease accepting applications for admission after the end of the initial application filing period (November 30, 2003 for the fall 2004). Many campuses will continue to accept admission applications after November 30, but many campuses may stop accepting applications earlier than in prior years, e.g., in January or February.

At the upper division level, many CSU campuses will require upper division transfer students to complete a minimum of 60 rather than 56 transferable units with grades of C or better, 39 rather than the minimum of 30 semester units of courses equivalent to general education requirements, and complete an additional 6 to 9 semester units of lower division major prerequisite courses.
Please see http://www.csumentor.edu/filing_status/ for more information.

After a CSU campus has exhausted enrollment management practices such as those described above, the campus may request impaction and the use of supplementary admission criteria.

Campus and Program Impaction

There are subtle, yet important, differences between program and campus impaction.

Program impaction means that the number of applications from fully eligible students to a designated program or major on a CSU campus during the initial filing period far exceeds the number of spaces available in that program or major. However, students can still be admitted to the campus in an alternate major, or they may eventually be admitted to the over subscribed major if they meet the supplementary admission criteria. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo continues to be impacted in all majors and programs.

Campus impaction (otherwise known as campuswide impaction) means that a campus has exhausted existing enrollment capacity and receives more eligible applicants for an enrollment category (i.e. upper-division transfers) during the initial admission application filing period than can be accommodated, and must therefore restrict enrollment to the campus for that category. Currently, Chico, Fullerton, Long Beach, Pomona, San Diego, San Marcos, and Sonoma are designated as impacted CSU campuses.

Students interested in an impacted major, program, or campus must apply for admission during the initial admission application filing period of October 1, through November 30, 2003 for admission in fall 2004. Applications for admission to impacted programs and campuses are not accepted after the initial filing period.

Impacted Campus Information (alphabetical order, as of October 2003)

California State University, Chico is impacted for first-time freshmen. First-time freshmen and all transfers must apply during the initial filing period. All first-time freshmen and lower-division transfers must provide SAT I or ACT scores. It is recommended that you take the test no later than December if applying for fall admission. The GPA for first-time freshmen is based only on courses taken in 10th and llth grades. Applicants will be rank-ordered by eligibility index. The academic characteristics of the freshman applicant pool will determine the eligibility index cut-off.

California State University, Fullerton is impacted for first-time freshmen. First-time freshmen must apply during the initial filing period and must provide SAT I or ACT scores no later than January if applying for fall admission. CSU Fullerton will admit fully CSU eligible first-time freshman applicants who graduate from high schools in CSU Fullerton's defined local area on the basis of CSU admission eligibility criteria. Out-of-area applicants must meet supplementary admission criteria for admission to the campus. Fullerton is closed to lower-division transfers.

California State University, Long Beach is impacted for first-time freshmen and for upper-division transfers and closed to lower-division transfers. First-time freshmen must apply during the initial filing period. First-time freshmen must provide SAT I or ACT scores, and it is recommended that these be taken no later than October for fall admission. Upper-division transfers must designate a major at the time of application. Several specific majors are also impacted. Upper-division transfers applying to impacted majors are encouraged to designate an alternate major in case space is not available in their first-choice major. CSULB does not accept applications from lower-division transfer applicants.

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona is impacted for first-time freshmen. First-time freshmen must apply during the initial filing period and must provide SAT I or ACT scores regardless of GPA. Cal Poly Pomona will admit fully CSU eligible first-time freshman applicants who graduate from high schools in Cal Poly Pomona's defined local area on the basis of CSU admission eligibility criteria. Out-of-area applicants must meet supplementary admission criteria for admission to the campus.

San Diego State University is impacted at all undergraduate class levels. Undergraduates must apply during the initial filing period. All freshman and lower-division transfer applicants must provide SAT I or ACT scores. It is recommended that you take the test no later than October if applying for fall admission. The preferred method of application is through CSUMentor. If you cannot apply online, you should contact the admission office to make special arrangements to apply electronically with campus assistance.

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo continues to be impacted in all majors. If you are applying to Cal Poly SLO, you must file an application during the initial filing period. All freshman applicants must provide SAT I or ACT scores. It is recommended that you take the test no later than November if applying for fall admission. The preferred method of application is through CSUMentor. If you cannot apply online, you should contact the admission office to make special arrangements to apply electronically with campus assistance.

California State University, San Marcos is impacted for first-time freshmen. First-time freshmen must apply during the initial filing period and must provide SAT I or ACT scores regardless of GPA. CSU San Marcos will admit all fully CSU eligible first-time freshman applicants who graduate from high schools in San Marcos' defined local area on the basis of CSU admission eligibility criteria. Out-of-area applicants must meet supplementary admission criteria for admission to the campus.

Sonoma State University is impacted for first-time freshmen. The primary academic consideration for freshman applicants are grade point average, college preparatory courses and test scores. First-time freshmen must apply during the initial filing period and must submit an SAT I or ACT test result regardless of their grade point average. First-time freshman applicants are strongly encouraged to take the October or November administration of the SAT I or ACT. Sonoma State University will admit all fully CSU eligible first-time freshman applicants who graduate from high schools in Sonoma's defined local service area on the basis of CSU admission eligibility criteria. Out of area applicants must meet supplementary admission criteria for admission to the campus.

Consideration for admission to any impacted major, program or campus is contingent on first meeting the regular admission requirements for CSU. Supplementary admission criteria are used to screen all applicants for admission to impacted majors or programs, including those students currently enrolled at the campus in other majors and seeking access to the impacted major. Transfer students have the same priority as current CSU students in being admitted to an impacted major. They must also meet the same supplemental admission criteria.

For more detailed descriptions of all impacted programs and criteria for admission, including supplementary admission criteria, please see:

http://www.calstate.edu/AR/impactioninfo.shtml.

Counselors and prospective applicants are cautioned that these statements are limited to a general overview of the criteria, and that applicants should consult the campuses for further details, clarification, or explanation.