In a move that may break a 43-year-long promise to admit all eligible students, the University of California announced yesterday that thousands of high school students who should have been accepted this year will be redirected to a community college.

Next week, UC will begin notifying high school seniors whether they were admitted.

About 3,200 students who otherwise would have been accepted to UC's 10 campuses will learn that their admission is contingent upon completing two years' work at a California community college.

Those students will have their community college fees waived and they will be guaranteed a spot as a junior at a UC campus – so long as they complete required course work.

The decision, UC officials said yesterday, is prompted by the state's projected $15 billion budget deficit and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal that UC reduce its freshman class by 10 percent systemwide this fall.

"The fact that we're not able to take all eligible students this year is a very large disappointment," said Susan Wilbur, UC's systemwide director of undergraduate education.

UC said it will decide which students to defer by considering the same criteria applied to all undergraduate applicants – both academic and personal accomplishments.

Deferred students are not guaranteed admission at one of the campuses they originally applied to, but they will be given a spot at a UC campus.

Since Schwarzenegger presented his proposed 2004-05 budget in January, several UC regents and students have lamented that instead of increasing enrollment by 5,000 students this fall, UC will be reducing its enrollment by 3,200.

But some experts question whether UC will break the promise set in 1960 by the state's Master Plan for Higher Education, which calls on UC to accept the top 12.5 percent of high school students.

The intent of the master plan was to set guidelines and target segments of the population for the three institutions of higher educations – UC, the California State University system and community colleges – so that all Californians would have the opportunity for a college education.

"We can't say with any certainty whether reducing enrollment by 3,200 would break the promise of the master plan," said Steve Boilard, higher education director at the Legislative Analyst's Office.

In a report released two weeks ago, the independent analyst's office used a 1996 study to assert that UC is accepting from the top 20 percent of high school students.

Some have expressed concern that in deeming more than 12.5 percent of all students eligible, UC this fall could deny access to some qualified students while accepting lesser-qualified students.

Wilbur said UC would not know how many students it is admitting until a state study on admissions is released in May.

"I think this is hugely detrimental to the state of California," said Jeremy Paul Gallagher, president of the Associated Students at UC San Diego. "Limiting access to the UC is crazy."