California State University, Northridge, and the San Fernando Valley's three community colleges have met today's federal deadline to record all foreign-student enrollments in a computerized federal tracking system, officials said Thursday.

The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System requires colleges and universities to document each foreign student's name, local address, enrollment status and other information in a centralized computer database. Such information has been gathered on paper since World War II.

"The biggest thing it does is take a really old, outdated paper system and essentially leap it into the 21st century," said Garrison Courtney, spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which replaced the Immigration and Naturalization Service in March.

As of Thursday, more than 6,000 U.S. schools were in compliance, and 500 more were still completing the process.

The immigration bureau wants better tracking of international students to discourage terrorists' use of student visas to gain entry into the United States. Courtney said the system will also help prevent immigration fraud.

Like many campuses, CSUN had its share of minor software glitches, but officials said all 1,200 international students have been registered. A bigger problem is the difficulty some foreign students have had with the American consulate in their home countries.

"We're able to do an evaluation of records and send out the acceptance letter with the new immigration documents, but then it's up to the student to report to the consulate," said John Charles, assistant director for the office of student development and international programs.

Some students have experienced delays in getting an appointment at the consulate and the interview questions were more stringent, Charles said. "A handful have been denied visas and have had to postpone enrollment for a semester."

Mission College in Sylmar, Valley College in Valley Glen, and Pierce College in Woodland Hills also have met the deadline, officials said.

"Most of the (international students) are good people enjoying the privilege of studying in the United States," said Georgia Estrada, student services specialist at Mission. "Most of them are not unhappy with this; most are glad that something is being put into place that will make sure that good students can come to school here."

But officials at all of the schools said they met the deadlines only through a lot of hard work. UCLA, for example, enrolls the largest number of international students in the country: approximately 5,000 of a total enrollment of 30,000, including more than 2,500 graduate students, many of whom bring their families with them.