Facing a strict limit on the number of students who can be enrolled this year, California State University, Stanislaus, has bumped up its application deadlines for winter and spring.

The deadlines are three months earlier than last year's.

State budget cutbacks are driving the early deadlines. Students must sign up for winter term by Tuesday, and spring semester by Sept. 12.

"We've got a mandate that told us to stay within target so we need to try to do it," said Roger Pugh, assistant vice president of enrollment management at Stanislaus State.

Pugh estimated that the campus must reduce its overall projected enrollment this year by 400 to 500 students.

Campus recruiters will visit Delta College, Merced College, Columbia College and Modesto Junior College and put up fliers announcing the early deadlines.

"We're very conscious that we have a large number of community college students," Pugh said.

The university could have closed enrollment for spring as early as Aug. 30, but officials decided to extend it to give prospective transfer students returning to class in mid-August a chance to get their test scores, transcripts and other documents filed.

CSU Chancellor Charles Reed last week urged campuses to reduce this year's enrollment growth by nearly half, denying admission to as many as 30,000 students across the 23-campus system in the spring 2004 term.

State funding cuts have limited Stanislaus State's enrollment growth to 2 percent, as opposed to the 6 percent annually the campus has grown each of the past few years.

Reed has given campus presidents flexibility in deciding how to meet the new lower enrollment targets. Strategies for limiting enrollment vary by campus.

Sacramento State this week announced that freshmen, freshmen transfers and sophomore transfers must wait until fall 2004 for entry.

Transfer students a concern

Because there are so few freshmen and sophomore transfers at Stanislaus, that's not an issue here, Pugh said. Last year there was one freshman in the winter term and 18 in the spring, he said.

But community college transfers are a big concern.

Juan Alvarez, dean of student services at Modesto Junior College, said it's not good news for students ready to transfer.

"I feel bad for those students," he said. "The only choice for many of these students will be a private university or college at this point. I don't know what the solution is."

Some students will benefit from taking more community college courses in their major, he said. Only 70 units are transferable, though.

"Students used to say, 'Anybody can get into Stan State,'" said Leticia Cavazos, coordinator of transfer center at MJC. "It's not like that anymore, with more and more people trying to get in and fewer spots available."

Just a few years ago, students could sign up two or three days before the start of classes, she noted. "It's not the case now," she said.

Stanislaus also will find other ways to curb its enrollment. The campus will hold firm to not admitting students who don't qualify; exceptions were made in the past, Pugh said. Students looking to get a second undergraduate degree also will be barred, he said.

The university will adhere to maximum class-size requirements and cancel classes with low enrollment.

About 7,200 students already are enrolled for the fall semester. Among new students and continuing students who have applied, there are still many who have yet to enroll.

"We could see another 1,000 students before the first day of class," Pugh said.

If all 1,000 enrolled, the university would need to cut spring and winter enrollment "substantially," Pugh said.

Stanislaus is counting on large numbers of students not meeting the earlier deadlines. Last year by mid-September, about 300 to 400 students had signed up for spring. The final tally was 1,400.

"We set an earlier deadline anticipating that we'll probably reduce the number of students that will actually get their applications in," Pugh said.

Students can file their applications online at www.csumentor.edu and check the status of their applications at 667-3152.