A Flock of Fresh Faces

After repeatedly trying to register for classes from home and getting frustrated with the constant busy signals, Bryan Nguyen and three classmates arrived at Cal State Fullerton at dawn Monday.

It was the first day of the fall semester at Cal State Fullerton, and more students have been admitted than in any of the past five years. It was no surprise, then, that it took two hours for Nguyen and his friends to get to the front of the line for a campus phone, which got them through.

“We’re exhausted right now,” the 20-year-old business student from Westminster said later, as the foursome stretched out on the grass.

“We carpool, and now we’re waiting to [add] a 4:30 class, so we won’t be going home until after 6:30 tonight,” said Quynh Hoang, 23, of Garden Grove as she sat up from her short nap.

The long hours are typical for the first day of class, students and university officials at Fullerton said, when students are adding and dropping classes and some procrastinators still are registering.

By Monday morning, 22,693 students had enrolled for the fall semester, the highest first-day head count since 1992, when 24,291 students were counted. Freshmen this year number 2,291, a 51.5% increase from five years ago.

The record for the number of students enrolled by the first day of classes, 25,179, was set in 1991. The numbers took a dive the next year because there were fewer classes as a result of the steep cuts in funding for the Cal State and University of California systems, said Jim Blackburn, director of admissions and records. But, in the past five years, funding gradually has been restored and enrollment figures have steadily climbed, he said.

Officials at Cal State Long Beach and UC Irvine said they expect similar increases in first-day enrollment when classes start next month.

Meanwhile, about 10% of the students at Cal State Fullerton scrambled to add classes to their schedules and pay their registration fees.

Many waited in long lines to use one of 14 phones that had been set up in the administration building. Though Blackburn and several assistants regularly told those waiting that they could use phones anywhere to add or drop classes, most stayed put.

“Any of the tens of millions of phones can be used to access the system,” Blackburn told a group that had been waiting for more than an hour. “You don’t have to wait here.”

Blackburn said one student signed up for his classes from Iran, while another called from a plane. The phone system has 144 lines and can handle as many as 15,000 calls per day, he said. But apparently, that isn’t enough.

A number of students complained they were unable to access the system from home because the lines constantly were busy. They insisted that calling from campus got them through on the first try.

In fact, the number published in the class schedule was busy when a reporter tried it. But there was no problem calling an unpublished number--one university officials gave any student who complained about the busy signals.

“I’m so confused,” said Brian McWhorter, 22, of Orange. “This is my first day here, and I don’t know anybody and I didn’t know I didn’t have to wait so long in that line. It’s frustrating.”

Those who registered for classes early, like Steve Tartaglini, 18, of Newport Beach, said they had no problems. “I feel sorry for them,” he said about the people who waited in the registration lines.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Freshman Flood

At Cal State Fullerton, the number of freshmen more than doubled over the past five years, while the overall student population grew 5% for same time period. Enrollment figures for the first day of fall semester:

*--*

Year All Students First-time Freshman 1993 21,552 1,473 1994 21,131 1,501 1995 21,131 1,945 1996 21,992 2,171 1997 22,693 2,291

*--*

Note: Records for first-day enrollments. Actual enrollment figures are calculated 20 days after the first day.

Source: Cal State Fullerton Admission and Records Department; Researched by MIMI KO CRUZ / For The Times