Miles Beckler was following a path that thousands of college students have taken before him.
Beckler figured he'd spend a couple of semesters at a community college, finish some general education requirements, then transfer to a California State University to pursue his baccalaureate degree.

But with budget cuts forcing CSU campuses to restrict enrollments, students like Beckler will find that path harder to follow than ever before.

Cal State Hayward on Friday announced it will not accept community college transfer students with fewer than 60 semester units. Officials also said they will not accept first-time freshman students in the spring and summer quarters.

At least seven CSU campuses -- including San Francisco State and Sonoma State 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.

And 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 have already said they won't fund enrollment growth next year.

Lower-division community college students are among the first group 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, who said campuses are following guidelines from system headquarters in Long Beach in their enrollment decisions.

It's a vast difference from policies CSU campuses followed in the past, when transfer students were generally welcomed -- despite how many units they may have completed at other colleges.

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 on Sept. 15 -- 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."

Beckler said he hoped to transfer to San Diego State in the spring before he ran up against that campus' enrollment limits.

"It kind of hit me, like, man, I've got to be here for another year," said Beckler, 21, a student at Chabot College in Hayward.

When San Diego State, one of CSU's most popular and crowded campuses, announced in November that it wouldn't be able to accommodate any new students this spring, Beckler knew he was looking at least one more semester at Chabot.

He said he expects the delay will tag an additional year onto the time it takes him to get a bachelor degree.

"I'll stick around and take classes in the spring to get my (associate of art) degree so I'll have a little piece of paper saying I finished all my general education," Beckler said.

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

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 have long counseled students to remain in community college until they receive their two-year associate degree, then transfer into a four-year university.

Upper-division transfer students are better prepared for university-level work, she said. Plus, community colleges are cheaper than CSU or UC, which have raised tuition as much as 40 percent in the last two years.

Community college fees have also increased -- from $11 per class unit to $18 -- but the schools are still "the best deal on the planet," Wright said. Community colleges also offer fee waivers for the neediest students.

Wright said Las Positas students who stick with the program can also benefit from guaranteed admission agreements with several CSU and UC campuses, including Cal State Hayward, San Jose State and UC Davis.

Such agreements are a "hidden benefit" of a community college education, said Kimm Blackwell, transfer director at Merritt College in Oakland.

Blackwell said she's concerned that budget cuts may force four-year universities to rethink their transfer understandings with Merritt and other colleges.

"If that happened, we'd be in big trouble," she said. Meanwhile, community colleges are facing financial troubles of their own. Faced with $90 million in state cuts, colleges are cutting course offerings, laying off staff and reducing student services.

Wright said she's seen students who are taking classes at several different campuses because they can't get into the courses they need at their home campus.

"I don't want to paint a completely bleak picture, because I want our community to know that we will not compromise the integrity of any student's education," she said. "They're going to be getting the same great education, but the opportunities might be fewer in terms of seats available and getting that perfect schedule."

Still, students are feeling the pinch.

Lisa Watkins-Tanner, a member of Associated Students at Laney College in Oakland, said classes are overloaded and it's getting harder to find what you need on campus.

"We have some students coming from Diablo Valley College" in Pleasant Hill, she said.

Watkins-Tanner said she registered for school as early as she could to ensure she'd get the classes she needed, and she said the future looks bleak.

"Students in community colleges should be prepared," she said. "It's going to take longer to graduate, people are going to have to register sooner, and they should be prepared to travel."