Above: New applicants will join CSUSM students in Spring 2011

By: Ashley Day

Photo by Aaron Jaffe

For the first time since 2008, California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) is accepting applications from transfer and international students for the Spring 2011 semester.

California politicians made repeated drastic cuts to the CSU educational system budget for many years.  Recently, Governor Schwarzenegger proposed restoring $305 million to the CSU system. If the California legislature enacts the proposed budget, there will be a new influx of students attending CSUSM this January.

Last year, over 17,000 prospective students applied for enrollment in Cal State San Marcos during the priority-filing period. This statistic was up 22 percent from student applications for the fall 2009 semester. According to official school statistics, the number of transfer applicants has increased 48 percent compared to the transfer applicant rate from fall 2009.

CSUSM is only welcoming certain students for spring 2011. The first students to be admitted will come from local community colleges such as Palomar College, Mount San Jacinto College (MSJC), and MiraCosta College. Students transferring from the community colleges must be ready to start their upper division coursework. Prospective students should have consecutively attended Palomar, MSJC or MiraCosta before applying to CSUSM.

Students looking to be readmitted into Cal State San Marcos also have first priority admissions status.

International or foreign exchange students are also allowed to apply for the spring 2011 semester. Students from countries outside the United States need a valid F1 visa to be considered for admission.

Cal State San Marcos will not receive students aspiring to accomplish a second bachelor’s degree. They will also not be accepting first time freshmen or lower division applicants.

CSUSM will know how many transfer students they can afford to accept after the California education budget is finalized. Therefore, offers of admission into Cal State San Marcos will not be dispatched immediately.

If students are not accepted for spring 2011, they have two options for the fate of their applications. Transfer or international students may use the spring 2011 applications for the prospect of getting in during fall 2011, or they may request to have their applications rescinded and their money returned to their pockets.

The deadline for transcripts to be delivered to academic admission is this Friday, Oct. 15.