State budget cuts don't happen in a vacuum; they have real- world consequences. California college students received a clear lesson in that, as the state university system cuts back on freshman enrollment.

The University of California and California State University systems will turn away nearly 30,000 eligible freshmen this spring. The UC faces a $372 million budget cut, and for the first time in four decades it will refuse to accept eligible students. The CSU schools may see a $209.5 million cut, leaving about 20,000 students out of luck.

Those students will turn to community colleges, which will likely see a surge in enrollment as the four-year schools accept fewer freshmen. But they face their own problem: perpetual underfunding. While the state universities have prestige, and K-12 education has political pull, community colleges are the overlooked workhorses of California education. The governor's budget sets aside $125 million for community colleges to handle the redirected students, but it's uncertain that will be enough.

Faced with a $15 billion or so budget shortfall, California has little choice this year but to seek big spending cuts. But those cuts aren't just painless political abstractions, as California college hopefuls are finding out.