With most campuses already filled for the academic year, the University of California is refunding application fees to about 1,600 applicants for the winter quarter that it says it cannot afford to consider because of state funding shortfalls.

It is one of the most visible signs to date of the fallout from the university's declaration that it cannot continue accepting students for which it does not receive state funding. State general fund dollars account for about 25 percent of the operating budget of the 10-campus system.

The bulk of the unprocessed applications came from transfer students who had completed two years at community colleges. Some 100 freshman applications also were not processed, and those students also will receive refunds of their $40 application fees.

The UC system estimates its state funding will be cut by $410 million this fiscal year. The UC Board of Regents is scheduled to discuss freezing enrollments for 2004-05 later this month.

While funding is dropping, demand for admission is high. For this fall, the university admitted 14,665 transfer students from community colleges, up 7.6 percent from the year before.

In past years, all students who met UC eligibility requirements would have been admitted for the winter quarter at campuses that accept winter applicants because the state was funding their enrollment, said UC official Lavonne Luquis.

This year, the university has accepted only 500 transfer students for the winter quarter, all of whom were admitted under transfer agreements arranged between their community colleges and the UC system, Luquis said.

Refunds will be made to 848 applicants to UC-Riverside; 710 to UC-Irvine; 687 to UC-Santa Cruz; and 574 to UC-Santa Barbara. Some students apply to multiple campuses. Other UC campuses either do not accept winter applications or limit which categories of students can seek winter transfers.

The doors already are closed for spring. The two campuses that would normally admit applicants for the spring term -- San Diego and Riverside -- will not accept applications, Luquis said.