University May Restrict Next Year’s Enrollment : Education: Five years ago, Cal State Dominguez Hills was trying to attract more students. Now, growing popularity and scarce funds have led the school to consider its first-ever admissions cap.

Cal State Dominguez Hills, which just five years ago was struggling to attract students, is considering an unprecedented cap on enrollment next year to keep class sizes under control, school administrators said this week.

The announcement follows word that the university’s enrollment, which swelled to an all-time high of 10,346 students this semester, is nearly 10% greater than last fall and is projected to grow by another 10% next fall.

It also comes at a time, school officials said, when state funding has not kept pace with three consecutive years of record enrollment at the Carson campus, forcing administrators to cancel 120 classes this fall and lay off 30 part-time faculty members.

Now, with new projections on enrollment and no indications of more state aid, the 26-year-old university could close its doors to more students as early as spring semester, said Dominguez Hills President Robert Detweiler.

“I just don’t feel we can take more students and give them a quality education,” Detweiler said. “It would stretch services--you would have to increase class sizes and cut more on support staff” to accommodate additional students, he said.

If a committee of administrators meeting Friday recommends capping enrollment, the student population next spring would be limited to the current number of registered students, said Anita Gash, executive director of admissions.

The school has traditionally accepted late applications for the spring semester, but that policy could end, as well as the university’s acceptance of unlimited numbers of transfer or freshman students. Such restrictions would be the first enrollment limitation in the university’s history.

Already, applications for spring semester are up 36% over the same period last year, Gash said. Increasing the university’s class sizes to make room for more students is not feasible, she said, because many of the classrooms at the campus are filled to capacity with at least 25 students.

“There isn’t any room,” Gash said. “We can’t grow beyond this point if the resources aren’t there.”

The school has grown in popularity partly because of transfer and freshman students who have been turned away from other crowded schools. Additionally, administrators say, stepped-up student outreach programs have heightened community awareness of the university, which had a poor academic image through much of the 1980s. Enrollment plummeted 16% between 1982 and 1986.

Today, the campus is not only among the fastest growing in the Cal State system but also one of its most diverse. About one-third of the university’s students are African-American. Overall, more than 60% of Dominguez Hills students are minorities.

Until now, state budget cuts in higher education that have left larger Cal State campuses reeling have had much less impact on Dominguez Hills.

Enrollment at Cal State Dominguez Hills

Cal State Dominguez Hills has experienced three consecutive years of record enrollment. Figures show fall enrollment of full- and part-time students since 1985.

1985: 7,649

1986: 7,327

1987: 7,869

1988: 8,106

1989: 8,817

1990: 9,451

1991: 10,346

SOURCE: Cal State Dominguez Hills