NO SCHOOL, NO PEACE?
In a move to cut enrollment because of California's budget deficit, the 23-campus Cal State University system announced it will not allow students to start at the university next spring.
Cal State usually admits about 35,000 freshmen, undergraduate transfers and graduate students in the spring, officials said.
Since most students of color tend to matriculate through the Cal State system as opposed to campuses such as Berkley, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara, this will prove to be devastating for many pursuing their educational dreams.
Making it even tougher for potential mid-year starters, the seven Cal State campuses on the quarter system or with a winter term stopped taking applications last week for first-time winter enrollment. So, any slow-moving potential applicant for the 2009-10 school year is now out of luck, except in those cases where Cal States maintain spring transfer agreements with community colleges, said spokeswoman Claudia Keith.
"We are looking at any way we can to reduce enrollment," Keith said. She said administrators hope to cut Cal State’s overall enrollment of 450,000 students by 40,000 over the next two years as a way to cope with a shortfall in state funding.
While some exceptions will be made in unique circumstances, many are not keeping their hopes up that the situation will ultimately work in their favor -- particularly with the state issuing IOU's as this devastating news was being disseminated.
Cal State system chancellor Charles B. Reed said this week he would seek an additional student fee hike of 15% to 20% for this fall on top of a 10% increase already approved. The Cal State Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote later this month on the extra fee hike and other austerity measures such as a two-day-a-month furlough plan for university employees.
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