Despite Cuts in CSUN Classes, Demand Eases : Education: Lower enrollment and new restrictions on transfer students create some openings in spring semester courses.

Although more than 300 classes were canceled because of state budget cuts, many Cal State Northridge students said on the first day of spring semester Monday they are having an easier time getting courses than they had in the fall.

“It’s been about 10 times easier for me this semester,” said Bill Lopez, 19, a sophomore engineering major. “I got all four classes I wanted. In the fall, I had to crash most of my classes and ended up with nothing in my major.”

Lower enrollment and first-time restrictions on transfer students have helped ease demand for classes in the spring semester, said CSUN Registrar Eric Forbes.

About 25,300 students were enrolled at CSUN on Monday, down more than 3,000 from the first day of spring semester two years ago, and about 2,000 fewer than the opening of spring semester last year, Forbes said.

Enrollment is expected to grow slightly during the next three weeks.

The school, which normally enrolls about 29,000 students in the fall semester, for the first time this year required students transferring from two-year colleges to have completed all of their general education requirements. Those courses--which include subjects such as English, math and science--have been in short supply at CSUN.

Additionally, the campus did not accept for the spring semester any transfer students seeking to study high-demand disciplines such as business.

But despite efforts to limit the number of students, class cancellations continue to cause graduation delays for many.

“I’m a junior in my third semester and I’ve probably got another 1 1/2 years before I’ll graduate,” said Elizabeth Druyun, 22, a journalism major from West Hills. “I got four classes, but only one that I really wanted. The rest were already full.”

But Druyun said she did much better than last semester, when more than 800 of 5,600 scheduled classes were canceled. “I didn’t get anything I needed,” she said.

Campus officials are bracing for even greater cuts for the coming fall semester. CSUN President Blenda Wilson has said that Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed 4.5% cut to higher education budgets for the 1993-94 school year is likely to trigger campus layoffs, as well as additional program cuts.