Nearly 4,000 freshman hopefuls will be diverted from the most crowded California State University campuses for the fall and instead will receive offers to transfer as juniors if they complete lower division courses at a state community college, university officials announced Friday.

CSU's plan to divert 3,800 would-be freshmen - called the deferred admission program - to community colleges mirrors that of the University of California, which last month extended "guarantee transfer options" to 7,600 qualified students who did not receive a freshman offer from any UC campus.

California's budget crisis will prevent CSU and UC from increasing enrollment this fall and officials with both systems say they have few options but to shrink the freshman class. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed the re-direction to community colleges in his January budget and will push to waive fees for students who accept those offers.

"We hope that this is a temporary, one-year policy," said CSU Chancellor Charles Reed in an interview with The Bee earlier this week. "In the long run, this kind of redirection is not a very good idea for California. We feel like we give better student services and are focused on the baccalaureate degree."

Eight of the 23 CSU campuses, including Chico State, San Diego State and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, will send deferred admission offers. Those campuses are among the most popular in the CSU system and most, like Chico State, already have been more selective in freshman admissions than other CSU campuses.

The 3,800 students who will receive deferment offers have not yet been chosen, said Bob Hannigan, vice provost for enrollment management at Chico State University. More than 3,800 eligible applicants have been rejected by the eight CSU campuses, he said.

At Chico State, for example, 1,470 eligible freshman applicants were not admitted for the fall, Hannigan said.

"Some portion of those students will get deferment offers, but we don't know how many or who yet," he said.

Hannigan said some students may find freshmen slots at other CSU campuses that are not filled. CSU Hayward, for instance, is actively recruiting high school seniors to apply for freshman admission for this fall.

California State University, Sacramento, was able to accommodate all qualified freshman applicants who applied by the Nov. 30 deadline, but none who applied past that date could get in, said campus spokeswoman Ann Reed.

Most years, freshman applicants could miss the deadline and apply as late as spring or summer and still be offered a slot. Tight enrollment constraints forced CSUS to "really enforce the deadline for the first time," Reed said.

Students who take the transfer option must enter into a deferred admission agreement with one CSU campus when they enroll at one of the state's 109 community colleges. They must declare a major before completing 30 units and will have to finish 60 units before they can transfer.

CSU officials said counselors at the eight campuses will track the progress of the deferred students to make sure they are taking the right courses and earning adequate grades.