Understanding Program and Campus Impaction

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In the California State University, an undergraduate program or campus is designated as impacted when the number of CSU eligible applications received in the initial filing period is greater than the number that can be accommodated by the program or campus. CSU campuses are authorized to use supplementary admission criteria to screen applicants to majors and/or campuses that are designated as impacted by the Chancellor. These supplementary admission criteria may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Cease accepting admission applications at the conclusion of the initial filing period;
• Require submission of the SAT I or ACT regardless of the high school grade point average;
• Rank order first-time freshmen by eligibility index;
• Set a higher minimum eligibility index than that required for CSU admission;
• Review additional characteristics such as socioeconomic or educational factors, space availability in a program or major, indications of overcoming educational obstacles, or exceptional talents; and
• Require completion of specified lower division general education requirements for lower division transfer applicants.

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 exceeds the number of spaces available in that program or major. Students who do not meet program or major supplemental admission criteria may still be admitted to the campus in an alternate major, or they may eventually be admitted to the over-subscribed major provided they meet the supplementary admission criteria.

Students interested in an impacted program or campus must apply for admission during the initial admission application filing period (October 1 through November 30 for fall admission). Applicants to programs that are impacted at every CSU campus where offered should apply to additional CSU campuses to maximize their opportunity for admission. Impacted programs and campuses accept no applications for admission after the initial filing period.

Applicants to locally-impacted programs (those where the program is impacted at one or more but not all campuses offering it) may select as an alternate campus one that offers the same program but which is not impacted in the program. In such cases, if the applicant is not accommodated in the locally-impacted program or an alternative major at the first choice campus, the application may be redirected to an alternate campus that remains open in the same major and the filing of an additional application is unnecessary.

Applications cannot be redirected to other impacted campuses or programs, or to campuses that have stopped accepting admission applications for that program or class level.

Consideration for admission to any impacted program is contingent on first meeting the regular admission requirements for the CSU. Supplementary admission criteria are used to screen all applicants for admission to impacted programs, including those students currently enrolled at the campus in other majors and seeking to change to the impacted program.

Most majors are impacted at the upper division level only. Freshmen and lower division transfers generally are admitted as pre majors and must complete prerequisite coursework at the campus prior to consideration for admission to the impacted major. A number of CSU campuses are impacted in some majors or programs, but only Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is impacted in all majors.

Campus impaction means that a campus has exhausted existing enrollment capacity and receives more eligible applicants for an enrollment category (e.g., first-time freshmen (FTF) and upper division transfers) during the initial admission application filing period than can be accommodated. Therefore, the campus must restrict enrollment to the campus for that category. Currently, Chico (for FTF), Long Beach (for FTF and upper division transfers), and San Diego (for FTF and upper division transfers), and Sonoma are designated as impacted CSU campuses.

Under campus impaction, an enrollment category must remain open for at least the initial admission application filing period if the campus accepts any applications for that enrollment category. This alleviates the difficult problem of first come, first served, and allows applicants to impacted majors, programs, and campuses an equal chance during a fixed period of time to file admission applications.

Campuswide impaction offers a local admission guarantee that does not apply to impacted majors or programs. Under the local admission guarantee, local CSU-eligible first-time freshman and local upper division transfer students shall be admitted to a local CSU campus on the basis of established CSU system admission policies. However, admission to an impacted campus does not include assurance of admission to a specific program or major if that program or major is impacted at the local campus.

"Local" first-time freshmen are defined as those students who graduate from a high school district historically served by a CSU campus in that region. "Local" upper division transfer students are defined as those who transfer from a community college district historically served by a CSU campus in that region. The boundaries of a campus's local region shall contain the entire territory of the school district or community college district in which the local high school or community college campus is located.

Campuses may use both campus impaction and program impaction simultaneously. For example, a campus could be "campus impacted" for first-time freshmen and use selected "program impaction" for upper division transfers. In this example, both upper division transfers and students currently enrolled at the campus would be required to meet the same supplemental admission criteria for admission to an impacted program at the upper division level.

For the most updated information on Impacted Programs and Campuses 2003-04, please visit our website at: www.calstate.edu/AR/impaction_info.shtml

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