Kristina Esquivel didn't have to stand in line to apply to Cal State Fullerton this year. She didn't need an envelope or a stamp. Instead, she applied online, using the California State University system that allows students to apply to one or all CSU campuses over the Internet.

"It was much easier and more convenient," Esquivel said, remembering years ago when she first applied to community college the old-fashioned way. "I was able to do it at 9:30 at night, and they say I'll get a response faster, too."

This year, students at CSU and UC will be allowed to use paper applications if they want. But, starting with the fall 2005 term, both CSU and the University of California will require undergraduate students to apply online.

Officials say this shouldn't be a hardship because most applicants are already using their Web-based application systems. They permit students not only to apply to university campuses, but also to use links to federal financial-aid applications, which can be completed online.

Completing applications online should decrease errors, officials said, because of computer prompts and error checks that are built into the software.

Once students are accepted, they can apply for housing and register for classes online as well.

At the University of California, Irvine, about three-quarters of freshmen applications and more than half of transfer applications were received online last year, Director of Admissions Marguerite Bonous-Hammarth said Tuesday.

UC has been allowing students to file online since 1996, CSU since 1998.

About 60 percent of the 32,000 applications that Cal State Fullerton received last year were online, Vice President Ephraim Smith said. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, 6,000 of CSUF's 7,000 applications were sent via the Web, he said.

Even though both university systems are requiring online filing for 2005, students who don't have access to a computer can still file by hand, officials said.

Esquivel predicted that students won't have much trouble getting used to filing online.

"Maybe someone in their 50s or 60s might have trouble, but anyone my age or younger is already used to e-mail and shouldn't have any problem," Esquivel said.