Fullerton : Cal State Enrollment Largest in Its History

Cal State Fullerton this fall has its largest enrollment in its 26-year history, despite efforts to limit growth in several academic areas.

Jerry Keating, director of public affairs, said Sunday that at the end of fall registration the university had enrolled 23,592 students. He said the tally was 345 more than last year and 193 more than the campus’ previous record, set in 1982.

While final figures are not yet available for all 19 campuses in the California State University system, Keating said Cal State Fullerton will probably rank about sixth in size. “We expect San Diego State University will be the largest in enrollment,” he said.

Keating said Cal State Fullerton’s growth this year came despite limits on enrollment in several “high-demand” academic areas, including electrical engineering and some business-related courses.

He attributed the record enrollment to the campus’ “quality and type of academic programs” and their increased accessibility due to “an improved system of computerized registration.”

“The improvements in computerized registration enabled more students to find more of the classes they wanted,” Keating said. He said the campus’ mix of academic disciplines includes several that are unique in Orange County, such as the only university-level undergraduate business program and the only certified teacher-education program.

University figures showed that the increases this year were in the senior and freshmen classes. There was a slight decline in the number of graduate students.

A breakdown of enrollment showed that 12,647 were women--53.6% of the student body, compared with 52.9% last year.

Another statistic of interest, Keating said, is the growing number of Southeast Asian students. “A sizable number of refugees, who are now legal residents of California, is enrolled,” he said. “We have about 2,000 of these immigrants and refugees, mainly from Southeast Asia.”

Keating said university officials believe that Cal State Fullerton would have a considerably higher enrollment if it had on-campus residence halls. The campus is one of only two in the California State University system without dormitories.

Keating noted that, after years of struggle, Cal State Fullerton this year obtained legislative passage of a funding system to build the campus’ first dorm. The dorm, scheduled to be completed in 1987, will house about 300 male and female students.