CSUN SATELLITE ENROLLMENT FILLING AVAILABLE SLOTS.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Classes don't start for more than a month, but a projected enrollment surge at California State University, Northridge's off-campus center in Ventura is forcing officials to close undergraduate applications after Thursday.

The unprecedented move comes as enrollment is expected to top 900 full-time students for the semester that begins Aug. 31. There were 770 full-time students enrolled during the last school year, making Ventura the largest off-campus center in the California State University system, officials said.

``We have to put a cap on enrollments. We've got far more people applying to the university than we anticipated,'' said Maria Tauber, spokeswoman for the Ventura campus. ``We're seeing record enrollment.''

The satellite campus, established in 1974, has become more popular as more degree programs are offered. More Ventura County residents also are learning about plans to move the campus to the former Camarillo State Hospital next fall, as the first step toward establishing the county's first four-year public university.

Currently located in a 30,000-square-foot rented office building, the campus has been increasingly packed with classes.

While the growth demonstrates the need for a larger campus, university officials must make adjustments until the move to Camarillo. Officials plan to schedule classes on Friday for the first time, add more classes during the morning and early afternoon, and even rent classrooms at Ventura High School for additional night classes.

``We think that the demand is there,'' said Steve Lefevre, the campus director. ``More people are aware of us and it's our responsibility to work with the community colleges to let the students know there's the availability of a degree completion program right here.''

Students can complete many degrees at the CSU's satellite campuses without having to attend their main affiliated campus.

The most popular Ventura campus degree programs are in business administration, psychology, sociology, child development and liberal studies. The most popular graduate degree programs are for teacher credentials, business administration and public administration, Lefevre said.

``What we try to do is, if we offer the program, you can get it here. And we try to organize the students and advise them up front on what the sequence will be,'' he explained.

While undergraduate applications won't be accepted after Thursday, graduate students face no similar deadline. There is an Aug. 10 deadline for applications to the elementary teaching credential program, Tauber said.

Registration for classes begins today, with classes assigned on a priority basis beginning with currently enrolled seniors, Tauber said.

The Ventura campus is the largest of six CSU satellite campuses. The next largest is the Contra Costa off-campus center for California State University, Hayward, with about 650 students. The other satellites are in Mission Viejo, the Coachella Valley, Calexico and downtown San Francisco, said Karen Yelverton, the CSU system's governmental affairs director.

Lefevre said the projected growth is expected to continue at a rate of some 250 students annually after the campus moves to Camarillo and expands degree offerings.

The campus will remain affiliated with CSUN, which actually grants the degrees students earn, until there is enough enrollment - about 3,250 students - to support a four-year university. At that point, the campus would break away and become the full-fledged California State University, Channel Islands, officials have said.

The CSU trustees in 1996 approved the university's name, making it the newest campus in a university system that began in San Jose in 1857.

A year ago, the trustees approved a plan to acquire the former Camarillo State Hospital and move the Ventura campus by January of next year. The opening has been pushed back to next fall because state lawmakers and Gov. Pete Wilson have not finalized the state budget. It includes two spending bills required to renovate the former state hospital and pay operating costs for the new campus.

``We want to be in place by July at the Channel Islands site so we will be ready for students to walk in the door at the end of August,'' Lefevre said.