For the second year in a row, Sonoma State University has closed admission to all freshmen and lower-division transfer students for the spring semester.

The enrollment freeze limits students with fewer than 56 college units to applying for admission to Sonoma State during the fall semester only.

Some form of admission restriction is being instituted at nearly all of the 23 CSU campuses, which have more than 400,000 students, the largest public university system in the country.

The decision for the spring 2004 semester was a result of state spending cuts that have affected the availability of classes and teachers, officials said.

"There are only so many students that we can teach properly at one time," said Susan Kashack, communications director for Sonoma State.

Typically, since fewer freshmen and lower-division students apply to universities in the spring than in the fall, Sonoma State officials said they anticipate the inconvenience to affect a small portion of students.

"Admission for the spring semester is like a faucet. You can easily open or close it. Fall is a whole other story because that is when we get most of our applicants," said Gustavo Flores, interim director of admissions.

In 2002, the last time a spring semester was open to all students at Sonoma State, 1,500 applications were received, 321 of those from freshmen and sophomores. By contrast, 7,151 students applied for fall 2003, more than 5,000 of whom are below the junior-year level.

Priority is given to juniors, seniors and graduate students.

According to Roberta Delgado, a counselor and director at Santa Rosa Junior College's transfer center, between 400 and 500 students transfer to Sonoma State from SRJC each academic year. About three-fourths of those transfer in the fall at the junior level.

"We aren't worried about lower-division students not being able to transfer. It's the juniors we're worried about. We want to make sure that they get in first," Delgado said.

The announcement, which is posted on Sonoma State's online application form, comes at a time when CSU students are bracing for a 30 percent increase in fees.

Students at SRJC, who begin fall semester classes today, also face fee increases, including a jump to $18 from $11 per credit.