FULLERTON : Cal State Enrollment Just Short of Record

Nearly 25,600 students are taking courses at Cal State Fullerton this fall, despite efforts to hold down enrollments in the wake of budget cuts and a corresponding 5% reduction in classes, university officials announced Friday.

The fall enrollment figure of 25,589 students is just 145 short of last year’s record of 25,734, according to James Blackburn, director of admissions.

At the same time, however, there has been a 10% drop in the number of “full-time equivalent” students. That is a calculation based on dividing the total number of units taken by all students by 15, the number of units considered a full-time load. This fall, the university’s full-time equivalent count is 17,270, down from 18,139 last fall.

Together, the enrollment “head count” and the full-time equivalent numbers are clear indications that many students were unable to get all the courses they wanted or needed.

“It’s really bad,” said one faculty member who asked not to be named. “It’s so depressing because many of them are not here on financial aid or scholarships; they are putting themselves through school and have to juggle work and classes. They get hit very hard.”

But Cal State President Milton A. Gordon emphasized this week that even though the full-time equivalent load has dropped 10%, the head count is a more accurate picture. Gordon noted that it costs the same to process grades and registration and provide library and other services for part-time students as for full-time students.

With that in mind, Gordon said Cal State is serving almost the same total number of students as last year, but with about 13% less funds.

Total enrollment figures include students at the Fullerton campus and the Mission Viejo satellite campus at Saddleback College. Of those enrolled, 4,007 are freshman; 3,390 are sophomores; 5,829 are juniors; 8,091 are seniors, and 4,272 are graduate students. As in fall, 1990, Blackburn said women account for 55.6% of all Cal State Fullerton students.