The Reporter, Vacaville

Barbara Pavao has to break the bad news to students at Solano Community College who expected to make a seamless transfer to a state university and pursue a bachelor's degree.

Pavao, who works at the college's transfer center, sees firsthand the impact of budget cuts that have forced the California State University system to restrict enrollments.

For many students, that means an unexpected pit stop on the road to a higher education.

"I have students who are fully prepared for university, have done all the requirements, and the university is saying, 'I'm sorry, we don't have room for you,' " she said.

Most Solano College students try for Sacramento State, Sonoma State and San Francisco State, according to Pavao. Unfortunately, those are three of seven CSU campuses that are limiting enrollment.

Those universities have announced they won't accept community college students with fewer than 56 transferable units for the spring semester, which begins in January or February for most campuses.

Several other CSU campuses won't accept any new applications at all for the spring semester.

Vacaville resident Audrea Johnson, 18, found out the hard way that she wouldn't be going to Sacramento State this fall after attending Solano Community College for 18 months, she said.

"I found out right at the end of the summer that I couldn't transfer," Johnson said. "I thought I had all my units, but it turns out I'm missing psychology."

Enrollment restrictions are expected to continue into next year as CSU copes with $345 million in state budget cuts that are impacting services throughout the 23-campus system. State legislators already have said they won't fund enrollment growth next year.

Lower-division community college students like Johnson are among the first groups to run up against the closed doors.

"What CSU is basically saying is, 'Stay in community college,' " said Bill Nance, vice provost at San Jose State University, adding that campuses are following guidelines from system headquarters in Long Beach in their enrollment decisions.

It's a vast difference from policies CSUs have followed in the past, when transfer students were generally welcomed to campuses, regardless of how many units they might have completed at other colleges.

"When I first started doing this years and years ago, a student could show up on the first day of college at Sac State and get in," said Solano College's Pavao. "There was more flexibility. Now students are going to have to complete a full two years before they can transfer."

As for Johnson, she is spending this semester taking psychology and planning to re-apply in the spring. "I thought I was all set," she said. "I even graduated a year early from high school. But here I am."

Jo Volkert, associate vice president for enrollment planning and management at San Francisco State University, said lower-division transfer students typically make up a small number of incoming students, but still the change is unpalatable.

San Francisco State also hopes to trim new enrollments by closing the spring application period today, a full two months earlier than last year's deadline.

"It's one of those things that sort of runs counter to our culture," Volkert said. "We have always been an institution that encourages students to come as long as they're eligible. It's hard to start saying no to people that we would really like to have come."

Next year, the University of California also will have to consider enrollment restrictions because of budget cuts and the state's intention to withhold money for enrollment growth next year.

Cal State Hayward is one of the few CSU campuses around the state that will continue to accept lower-division transfer students, at least for the remainder of this school year. Next year, however, officials aren't sure they'll be able to accommodate those students.

Solano College students are being steered toward Hayward State, Humboldt State and CSU Los Angeles, according to Pavao.

"There are colleges, if they are able to move, but many of our students intend to stay in this area," she said.

Community college transfer counselors say it's too soon to say how many lower-division students will be affected by the enrollment limits. Nancy Wright, a counselor and faculty member at Las Positas College in Livermore, said officials long have counseled students to remain in community college until they receive their two-year associate's degree, then transfer into a four-year university.