Bad news everyone: Sacramento State has applied to the California State University chancellor’s office for campus-wide impaction, meaning there are more students than the CSU system can handle. As upsetting as this is, it is our only option.

By law, a CSU must accept every student who applies and meets the admissions criteria. The problem is, we simply do not have the resources to serve all the students who would like to attend. The gap isn’t huge yet, but considering several recent statistics, things could get ugly.

The proposal being made to the chancellor’s office would limit Sac State’s admissions area to six counties: Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, Solano and San Joaquin, and increase the criteria for any students from outside. Admissions criteria for students inside these six named counties would remain at the minimum.

Ed Mills, associate vice president for student affairs, enrollment and student support, said we could have too many students next semester. Impaction will actually help to maintain a realistic balance between students and course offerings.

“Once we’ve made that offer of admission and the student has accepted, I feel like that’s a commitment to getting them through and helping them graduate,” Mills said.

Right now, about 90 percent of students attending Sac State are from the six-county admission areas. Assuming this trend continues, impaction and changes in application criteria for those outside our area will only shave off 10 percent of potential students at most.

“You can either restrict (access) at the door, or it will be informally restricted internally because students won’t have the sections they need,” Mills said. “We really are using it as a preventative measure.”

Mills says three big factors are contributing to the over-enrollment problem. First, demand from students within the area is going up. Mills said the high school graduating classes from 2007 to 2009 were three of the largest ever.

“Not only did that create a larger pool of students for us, but community colleges are bursting at the seams, and those students will be heading our way as well.”

Second, the budget has been reduced, so we are already unable to enroll as many students as in years past. Without this government funding, the school simply cannot provide classes and services for the same amount of people.

Ironically, Sac State has also been heavily engaged in graduation retention initiatives. But the increase in continuing students couldn’t have come at a worse time than in the middle of budget cuts and increased demand for spots on campus.

With more people trying to get into Sac State, we want to free up as many seats as possible. To make the most efficient use of our time here – to move through more quickly in order to make room for new students, we should all make regular appointments to see an academic adviser.

Rylan Gervase, Associated Students Inc’s Secretary of State Affairs, said we have needed more campus space for some time.

“(Impaction) is a temporary solution, of course,” Gervase said. “The best way to fix it is to open up more campuses, but that’s not going to happen any time soon.”

But it’s not as if these out-of-area students are being left without any other option. Every county in California falls within the service area of some CSU campus. It may not be the campus of your choice, but it is still an option for higher education.

If the chancellor approves the proposal, impaction won’t take place until fall of 2011. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.