Nov. 21, 2008
The California State University system will limit admissions numbers, while keeping some unfilled faculty positions open due to the $97 million in potential cuts, the CSU Chancellor said Friday.
Though the state Legislature hasn't approved $97 million cuts, Chancellor Charles Reed sees the money as already gone, he said during a conference call Friday.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed $66 million in cuts to the CSU along with a $31 million reduction, which was originally reported on as an optional amount of money for Reed to give back, is no longer optional, according to a CSU press release from Nov. 6.
"Let's not get into semantics, I deal with reality," Reed said about the reduction. "There is no such thing as a volunteer thing to do." Reed denied that his office said Governor Schwarzenegger requested the reduction.
"You can bet your last nickel, the reduction is going to be gone after the Legislature finalizes the budget," Reed said.
The CSU is already operating at a $215 million deficit for the 2008-09 budget, not including the recent proposed cuts, according to the Nov. 6 press release.
"These impactions mean we have to set priorities," Reed said.
The Chancellor listed three priorities to put in place immediately: all the currently enrolled students will be first priority; all community college transfers who are eligible will be accepted; first time freshmen who are eligible and come from the specific universities service region will be accepted.
Each college has been instructed to prioritize to first accept applicants that come from the areas close to that college, Reed said.
However colleges such as Chico State, Humboldt State and Sonoma State, which are in less populated areas, will not be as restricted to service area applicants, Reed said.
For majors like journalism, nursing and engineering, which are not available at all campuses, exceptions will be made for students applying outside of the service area, Reed said.
"If a student wants to go San Diego and they are out of the service area, the criteria for those freshmen will probably have to be above a B average," Reed said.
As the total number of students the CSU schools can hold has been lowered from 460,000 to 450,000, the campuses will decide their new admissions targets based on individual school factors, Reed said.
Director of Admissions, Allan Bee said that Chico's admissions target will be that of last year, 17,135 total students. The university had originally planned to increase the number before the additional $97 million cuts.
To assist incoming freshmen, the CSU made extra efforts to educate the applicants on admission alterations, Reed said. Schools are encouraging students to apply by Nov. 30 to get priority and to use CSU mentor through the its Web site.
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"We are going to allow each of our campuses to remain open until they have met the number of applicants to meet their targets," Reed said.
As far as faculty is concerned, instructions have been handed down to each school to only hire positions that are critical to campus operations, Reed said.
"Positions in the police and health departments should be filled," Reed said. "But we have to leave the less critical vacancies open."
A legislative analyst said things are only going to get worse for the state, Reed said.
"I will tell you that we have been treated as fair as any other state agency in the governor's cut recommendations," Reed said. "No one likes cuts, but if there is not money, something has to go."
Ben Burg can be reached at bburg@theorion.com
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