For the first time in eleven years, Sacramento State turned away applications for fall admission in early summer due to campus overcrowding and a lack of funds.

Dr. Gravenberg, associate vice president for student affairs, said the deadline for first time freshmen was May 1st and July 1st for upper division transfer students.

“Our first priority is to accommodate continuing students, then transfer students and then first time freshman,” said Gravenberg.Upper division transfer students are allowed two months longer than freshmen to turn in their applications for admittance to the university.

“We have been more flexible in the past but now if a student misses the deadline, they are sent a letter offering them to apply for the following semester,” administrator Emiliano Diaz said.

Diaz, who oversees recruiting efforts, said students were reminded last spring of the change. The university also sent out announcements to High Schools, Junior Colleges and posted it on their website.

Due to budget and enrollment demands, the Chancellors Office decided in late January after extensive consultation, that an application deadline was needed, Gravenburg said.

Research Analyst, Leann Souza, said the deadline was initiated because funding was tight.

“The Chancellors Office puts out a total number count in which they allot funding for and anything over that number, we absorb as a university,” Souza said.

The Spring 2002 semester saw 26,269 enrolled, but the target number for the fall has been reduced to 21,820, Souza saidGravenberg said the new deadline will not only help keep enrollment down but it will also help the university better manage and plan for the future.

Official enrollment numbers will not be posted until October after the census is taken.

“We?ll know exactly where we?re at then,” said Gravenberg.Then, as now, Sac State rolls swelled as hard economic times drove people back to school.

The CSU has always recommended applicants file by November for the following fall and August for spring.

“In the past, if students did not have their applications turned in by that date, the University would still admit them even up to the first day of class,” said Souza.