CSUN may tighten up on admissions to make budget. (Up Front).

These are frustrating times for officials at Cal State Northridge.

More students than ever are clamoring to get into the school and, instead of welcoming them, officials are huddling to find ways to keep at least some of them out.

The problem? Cutbacks slated for CSUN, along with the rest of the California State University system, mean there won't be enough state funding to keep up with the burgeoning student population come next year.

Noodling over the so-called May revise, an update to the state's 2002-2003 budget submitted in January, is not yet complete. But so far it looks as if the California State University system will take a $50 million hit in funding for such things as library books and new computers.

And while some additional funds will be made available to accommodate new enrollments, university officials say those increases may not be enough to cover the record number of students who want to get into some schools.

"They have to really manage their enrollment," said Colleen Bentley-Adler, a CSU spokeswoman, said of the system's schools. "Everybody is shortening their application time period so students have to get their applications in sooner."

Late in May, a contingent from the CSU system that includes CSUN traveled to Sacramento in hopes of winning legislators to their cause. The 2002-2003 budget bill now in committee is expected to be signed by the governor on July 1, the start of the new fiscal year. Oddly enough, the group, which included five representatives from CSUN, wasn't fighting to reinstate money already earmarked for the schools, but rather to keep the cuts from going any deeper.

"The problem we see is, if the legislature and governor can't agree on the $50 million cut, then everything comes back onto the table. They might look at our budget and say, 'It's only $50 million. Let's cut more,"' said David Honda, a San Fernando Valley businessman and chairman of the board of Cal State University Northridge Foundation. "Realistically, $50 million is probably better than a sharp poke in the eye. We're not happy, but the reality is we know there's no money up there."

The proposal now in the hands of legislative committees shaves 2.5 percent off the CSU system budget, bringing funding levels to $2.76 billion in the coming fiscal year.

Based on current and anticipated enrollments, that puts the budget gap system-wide at an estimated $158.7 million, officials say.

At CSUN the proposal translates to a $2.66 million cut from the original budget proposed in January. That cutback would come on top of a $1.8 million cut taken earlier in the year.

CSUN's operating budget, $203 million in the current year, is expected to increase to $212 million in the 2002-2003 fiscal year.

Cuts will affect a variety of ongoing services including maintenance, library materials and computer equipment. But the larger impact of the May revise may be in the area of new admissions.

State funding for CSU is divided into two categories -- ongoing expenses, such as libraries and maintenance, and classroom expenses, such as faculty salaries. In theory, funding changes in the latter should reflect anticipated new admissions. But the 5-percent increase allotted in the proposal for new enrollments trails recent record admissions levels at CSUN Northridge.

"When all the dust settles out, the demand created by the additional students that we are expecting is not being funded by the resources we're getting," said John Chandler, a CSUN spokesman.

CSUN President Jolene Koester was serving jury duty and unavailable to comment for this story.

In the current fiscal year, CSUN's part-time and full-time student population reached a record high of 31,565, or 23,135 full-time equivalents. That represented an 8-percent increase over the prior year when the head count numbered 29,003, or 21,296 full-time equivalents.

Before 2000, the state's funding corresponded pretty closely to the actual increases in enrollemnt numbers. But beginning in the 2000-01 fiscal year, those two numbers began to diverge. This year, Chandler said, state funding fell about $10 million short of meeting the school's new enrollment expenses.

Consequently, like many schools in the CSU system, CSUN is forced to find ways to limit the number of new admissions so that they align more closely with the funding. If not, students will be unable to register for the classes they require and other services will be strained.

"It certainly is going to grow for the year ahead," Chandler said of the budget deficit. "That's what's driving the budget pressure and the president to convene the task force."

Koester several weeks ago appointed an enrollment policy group that will review admissions practices for undergraduate transfer students. The thinking is that, by limiting the time period in which students can apply, the school can limit the number of applications.

The school already limits the application period for freshmen to one month in November, the minimum allowed by the state. The demand is low enough at the graduate level that the cuts are not likely to impact that group.

But it is in the area of undergraduate transfers that CSUN has the most flexibility, because the current enrollment period for that group is well above the one-month minimum dictated by the state.

System-wide, officials say, the revised budget proposal is "manageable," but just barely.

Cuts will eliminate a relatively new program that trains K-12 teachers in the use of technology in the classroom (CSUN had not yet implemented the program) and provide a meager 1-percent salary increase for university employees.

"That's not much for a raise for 40,000 employees," said Bentley-Adler.

Still, Bentley-Adler and others say, the crux of the plan is funding for new admissions, and CSU can live with the 5-percent allowance, especially given the alternatives.

"It's not as much as what we asked for, but it was an increase over our budget," said Bentley-Adler.