The California State University system will turn away 3,800 eligible applicants, promising them a spot in two years if they first attend a community college.

The number represents roughly 10 percent of the freshman class. The university will mail out the guaranteed transfer offers by the end of this month.

The University of California recently made the same offer to 7,600 of its eligible students as the state grapples with a severe fiscal crisis. It marks the first time in 44 years that either university system has broken a promise outlined in the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education to admit all eligible students.

"We believe these kids are good students, high achievers that will have many other options," said CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow. "They have probably been offered admission at other universities ... This is just one more option that they will have and that will ensure students don't fall through the cracks."

The students who will receive the letters applied between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30 to eight campuses to which they have been denied admission: CSU Chico, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, San Diego State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State San Marcos and Sonoma State University.

They will not be offered a chance to transfer to any of those campuses, which are "impacted", meaning they receive more applications than they can accept. Instead, they will have an opportunity to transfer in two years to one of the remaining 15 campuses in the 23-campus system.

However, unlike UC, which doesn't have room at any of its campuses for next fall, some of those remaining 15 CSU campuses still have space for first-time freshmen. So it's possible that students who receive a transfer letter may still have a shot at attending CSU next fall -- just not at one of the campuses to which they applied.

Cal State Hayward, for example, is still accepting applications for first-time freshmen. So far, the campus has seen a 32 percent increase in freshman applications for next fall, said Jeff Cook, executive director of enrollment services.

CSU estimates that it will turn away roughly 23,000 undergraduate, graduate and transfer students for next year because of program cuts to save money. Only eligible incoming freshmen will be given a guaranteed transfer option.

Education analysts have asked if the community colleges, which have already faced cuts, can absorb all the students being redirected from UC and CSU.

Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill has taken about $4.5 million in cuts over the past two years. Still the campus, a top transfer school to UC and CSU, has increased the number of summer classes it offers by 7 percent and its fall classes by 3 percent to make room for more students. The campus can afford to do that, in part, because managers and classified staff have agreed to a 7 percent salary cut.

"We're particularly conscious of the students who have been turned away from UC and CSU," said DVC spokesman Grant Cooke. "We will do our best to accommodate all the students that need to come to DVC in the fall."