State budget cuts are forcing California State University, Stanislaus, to consider halting new admissions for the first time in the school's history, President Marvalene Hughes said last week.
A cutoff date had not been determined, but it is likely to be in the fall, and the suspension could last through the 2003-04 academic year. Enrollment is about 8,000 now, including students already accepted for Stanislaus State's fall semester -- who would not be affected by the admissions cutoff.

"We've tightened up over the past couple years, but this is really drastic over what we've done in previous years," said Roger Pugh, assistant vice president of enrollment management at Stanislaus State.

The admissions ban would be one more blow for people trying to get higher educations in state schools. The California State University system and the University of California have raised student fees, community college fees are going up as well, and all three systems are dealing with deep budget cuts.

So, even if students can afford college, they might not be able to get in.

College and university officials are taking a hard look at the state budget, approved early last week and signed by the governor on Saturday.

Officials on many campuses said they planned ahead for most of the cuts. The final budget included a reduction of about $300,000 more for Stanislaus State.

That was on top of $3.6 million in cuts for which the campus had already planned, said Mary Stephens, vice president of business and finance.

The university has not laid off any employees but a hiring freeze has been in effect since January. The 2003-04 employment roster includes 31 fewer people than last year.

Community college backers, still computing the latest numbers, said the budget brought no surprises. They said the best news is that it appears a looming cash-flow problem will be resolved soon.

The Yosemite Community College District, which oversees Modesto Junior College and Columbia College, was looking into short-term borrowing plans in case there was no state budget in September. Other districts did the same.

"We're grateful that there's a budget because we had major concerns with cash flow," said Nick Stavrianoudakis, spokesman for the Yosemite district. "If there was no budget in place, we would be depleting our general fund reserves."

The district anticipates no new layoffs, he said. Earlier, nine classified and six administrative employees lost their jobs.

The most noticeable change on many campuses will be the higher price tag. Community college students will pay $18 a unit, rather than $11.

"It always affects the students who can least afford it," said Linda Hoile, MJC spokeswoman.

Students are being charged 30 percent more this year on CSU and University of California campuses. The CSU board approved the increase July 16, while the UC regents the next day OK'd a 25 percent increase and authorized an additional 5 percent if necessary. Wednesday, UC President Richard Atkinson enacted the extra 5 percent.

College and university officials have said that the state's $38.2 billion budget shortfall left them no choice but to raise fees, in order to keep from cutting into instructional programs.

At Stanislaus State, fees went from $1,572 to $2,046 for undergraduates. Graduate student fees went from $1,734 to $2,256 a year.

The budget plan approved last week added $15 million in cuts to CSU. That brought the net reduction to $345.2 million, a 13 percent cut, said Clara Potes-Fellow, a CSU spokeswoman.

While at Stanislaus that means less for campus and facilities maintenance, and for services, the most serious impact will be on the number of students the university can admit.

CSU officials had planned for 7 percent enrollment growth in 2003-04; now the state has set a systemwide growth limit of 4 percent, Potes-Fellow said.

But, at Stanislaus State, enrollment can grow by only 2 percent -- because Stanislaus, like some other CSU campuses, overshot its enrollment target in 2002-03 -- and must count those students as part of enrollment growth in the coming year.

More students are normally admitted because officials anticipate more money the next year. Not so this year.

The state's spending plan specifies that CSU campuses will not be funded for growth in 2004-05, Stephens said.

"We hate doing it," she said, of terminating admissions. "But we don't want to go in the other direction, where we enroll someone and we can't provide them with the classes."