100 Students Apply for Cal State San Marcos Vanguard

Even before they are sure what academic majors will be offered, 100 college students--mostly from San Diego County--have applied for admission to Cal State San Marcos, which will hold classes for the first time next fall.

Although the number is small, it already represents 25% of the 500 upper-division and teaching-credential students the university is planning to accept for its debut year as the 20th and newest campus in the California State University system.

By contrast, San Diego State University last year received 5,000 upper-division applications from new students wanting to enroll, and accepted 2,500 of them as juniors and seniors. SDSU’s total enrollment was 35,000.

Cal State San Marcos officials say they are not sure when--or even if--the 500-student capacity will be reached and admissions cut off. The application period opened Nov. 1, as it did for state universities throughout California, and priority ranking will be given to those who apply in November.

But Marti Gray, assistant to executive vice president Richard Rush, said the university is receiving “a lot of telephone and walk-in interest about admissions,” noting that university recruiters this week began making presentations to students at community colleges in the county.

Academic majors are expected to be offered in biology, business accounting, business management, history, liberal studies, mathematics, psychology and sociology. A minor will also be offered in women’s studies.

“Students have a unique opportunity to be pioneers at a new university, the only one under construction in the United States,” said president Bill Stacy. “We’re looking for students with bright, inquiring minds and sound preparation who have a bit of that pioneering spirit.”

Some of the first 100 applicants are from outside California, but most are residents of San Diego County, Gray said.

Admission of freshmen and sophomores won’t occur until the fall of 1995.

Until permanent campus buildings open in the fall of 1992, classes will be held in leased buildings at 820 W. Los Vallecitos in San Marcos, the same industrial-commercial complex in which San Diego State University has operated its North County Center. The success of the SDSU North County center and projections for North County’s continued growth, spawned Cal State San Marcos, which was officially created July 1.

Ground breaking for the 300-acre campus on Twin Oaks Valley Road is scheduled for January, and majors requiring laboratories and other technical facilities and equipment will not be offered until the permanent campus opens.

During the 1990-91 school year, the temporary San Marcos campus will serve the 500 Cal State San Marcos students, as well as 1,500 SDSU students. The following year, the two universities will split the enrollment as Cal State San Marcos slowly expands, and, in the 1992-93 school year, SDSU will leave its North County center and Cal State San Marcos will serve an estimated 3,800 students.

University officials say the process of obtaining national accreditation from the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges is under way, and should be completed by 1992, before the first diplomas are issued.

Although seniors will be accepted at Cal State San Marcos next fall, it is unlikely that they will be able to earn enough of the specific credits they need to graduate by the following spring, said Gray.

“We can’t guarantee we’ll have all the offerings during our first year that they would need to graduate,” Gray said. “But we certainly think that we’ll have enough courses to offer over the first two years for an incoming junior to earn the credits necessary to graduate by the spring of 1992.”

The university’s curriculum is being mapped out by 12 founding faculty members. Another 20 professors are scheduled to be hired by next fall, when classes begin.

For state residents, cost of attending a California state university is $372 for 6.1 units or more, and $213 per semester for six units or fewer. Cal State San Marcos has the same admission requirements as the other universities in the system and gives preference to students transferring from a community college.