The profile of freshmen admitted to the University of California this fall should shatter any illusions that the state's budget crisis can be solved without having a direct impact on people's lives, indeed on the future of the state.

Implementing a hurriedly devised plan imposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the University of California will for the first time turn away students who have met all regular requirements for admission. Some 7,600 students who took all the required courses in high school and achieved the necessary scores on the SAT I and SAT II -- with an average 3.46 high school grade-point average -- have been told to go somewhere else.

The "somewhere else" is one of the state's already overflowing community colleges that are struggling to serve students who are already there. True, the rejected UC students have been told that if they do well at a community college they will be guaranteed admission to a UC campus in their junior year. But it is highly unlikely that students who had their hearts set on getting into UC Berkeley or another UC campus will choose to go to institutions such as Laney Community College in Oakland or Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, as much as we admire the education they provide.

Instead, some students will choose to go to private universities, many outside California. Those who leave the state may never return to California, depriving the state of their future professional and financial contributions. For the rejected students who accept UC's "guaranteed transfer option," it's doubtful that many community colleges will be able to offer the advanced courses many of the students will be seeking.

Another disturbing feature of the fall freshman profile is the declining number of black and Latino students admitted to the university. Out of 7,753 freshmen admitted to UC Berkeley, only 194 are black, down from 515 admitted in 1997. Only 916 Latinos were offered admission, down from 1,204 in 1997.

All this might have been easier to bear if the new admissions plan had been adopted after a statewide discussion about the role of UC and CSU in light of the state's budget deficit. Instead, many of the most senior leaders in higher education -- including UC President Robert Dynes -- were caught by surprise when the plan popped up in Schwarzenegger's budget in January.

The breach of California's pledge to open its doors to qualified high- school graduates is not just a huge disappointment to 7,600 teenagers. It is a threat to a system of higher education that has been central to Schwarzenegger's eloquent description of California as an "empire of hope and aspirations."