An additional 160 students will be filling the classrooms at California State University, Stanislaus in the fall of 2004 as the local university expands by the maximum amount allowed by state law.

“We’re locked in by the state budget to a 2 percent growth rate and right now we’re up against that limit,” said university spokesman Don Hansen.

“There’s a big tidal wave of student demand for entrance but we’re limited in who we can admit.”

The addition of approximately 160 students to the 8,000 who already attend does not appreciably lessen the pressures for entrance.

Statewide, the CSU system is expected to admit an additional 13,000 students for the 2004-2005 school year.

“The pressure is mounting on students trying to gain admittance,” Hansen said. “We’re seeing students apply earlier and earlier. Basically the students who get in are the ones who are the most qualified and who apply the earliest. If you wait until the last minute, there are no guarantees.”

One of the ways students have begun to apply is over the Internet and those future applicants who are not “Net savvy” now will have to become so - the entire CSU system will be accepting only Internet-submitted applications as of the fall of 2005.

“Right now, a large percentage - about 65 percent - of our students are applying online,” Hansen explained. “The rest submit the paper types.”

He cited bureaucratic efficiency as well as user-frendliness as reasons for the switch.

“This change will be better for the system overall and I think people will find it easier to use,” he said. “There are plenty of places nowadays for people to access a computer and I’m not too worried about someone getting left behind in the process. If someone doesn’t have access to a personal computer at this point, they will find it difficult to succeed at a four-year institution. You’ve gotta have one.”

If a student is totally unable to access a computer after 2005, there will still be paper applications available on a limited basis.