CONCORD - Throughout high school, Norma Galan planned on attending the University of California.

She made sure she was eligible by earning A's and taking all the right classes at Clayton Valley High. She was student body president. But when both UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara rejected her, the university did not offer her a spot at another campus as it would have in years past to UC-eligible students like her.

Instead, it promised that Galan and about 7,600 other seniors around California can transfer to a UC if they first attend a community college for two years.

"I tried so hard," Galan said. "I pictured myself going to a great university. I feel everything came crashing in my face. I'm really upset about this whole budget cut thing."

This is the first time in 44 years that UC has broken a promise outlined in the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education to admit all students who took the right classes and earned high-enough grades and test scores to become eligible.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants UC to save money by sending to community colleges 3,200 students it otherwise would have enrolled. It is not clear how many of the 7,600 will take the university up on the offer.

Galan is one who will. She received what is being termed a "guaranteed transfer option" from UC Davis and UC Merced, which is scheduled to open in fall 2005. She plans on attending Davis after completing two years at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill.

She will turn down offers from Sonoma State and Chico State.

That means she won't get the experience she wanted of being a freshman at a four-year university, but she will get a degree from UC. She said she worked hard to earn a high school GPA of 3.75 (out of a possible 4.0). That is just shy of the 3.8 average for next fall's admitted class at UC. She said she thinks her combined SAT score, which was below the UC average of 1210, hurt her.

To sweeten the deal, the governor wants the legislature to approve waiving community college fees for all students who take the transfer option. Education leaders have criticized this proposal as unfair to regular community college students.

Las Lomas senior Michelle Lopes fleetingly considered taking one of the transfer options she received this month from UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis -- which she has until June 1 to accept. But she wants the four-year college experience, so she will go to Sonoma State.

It surprised her that UC turned her down. She had a 3.96 GPA and a decent SAT score. For next year, Michelle would like the university to adjust its eligibility index, which is based on grades and test scores, so fewer people are eligible.

"It may be harder to get in, but it makes it less of a blow when you don't," she said. "I was pretty disappointed."

College Park High senior Erin Farrell said her "dream school" was UC Santa Barbara. She also applied to UC Irvine. Neither admitted her. She briefly considered the transfer option but will instead attend Sacramento State.

"I don't know how they can guarantee you a spot," Erin said. "I mean, what if my grades fall?"

Not everyone considers the transfer option a raw deal. Clayton Valley High School principal John Neary said he thinks more students should attend community college to save money while they figure out what they want to do. He frequently refers to DVC and Los Medanos College in Pittsburg as "gold mines."

But DVC President Mark Edelstein worries whether UC will have room for all the transfers. It currently admits about 13,000 community college transfers a year. If the bulk of the 7,600 UC-eligible students accept the transfer option, will UC have space each year for 20,000 transfers? Or will regular community college students be pushed out?

"There has been a lack of overall planning in California for maintaining the master plan, and we're seeing the first fruits of that in this budget crisis," Edelstein said. "Unless we come to terms with that, our sons and daughters won't have the same access to a baccalaureate degree."

Las Lomas senior Alex DiGrazia will take the offer and attend a community college. He plans on transferring to either UCLA or UC San Diego.

He received offers from a couple of CSU campuses but said UC would better prepare him for his planned career as a doctor.

Next year, he suggests, UC should stop giving 10 percent of its freshman spots to out-of-state students. The transfer option, he said, "doesn't completely make up for not getting in when you should have, when you had the grades to get in."

Clayton Valley senior Kevin Mizuno is not interested in UC's offer. His two older sisters both attended UC Santa Barbara, and it disappointed him not to get in. A teacher pointed out, though, if "I wasn't good enough for them, they're not good enough for me," he said. He's going to San Diego State and said he is thrilled about it.

"I felt I earned a four-year education at least to a place I wanted to go."