MUSTANG DAILY TOMORROW: Sunny High 71˚/Low 44˚
CA L I F O R N I A P O LY T E C H N I C S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y Local nonprofit store helps artisans and farmers from developing countries IN ARTS, 6
Cal Poly football makes defensive stand despite a sputtering offense in victory over SDSU IN SPORTS, 12
Monday, October 5, 2009
Volume LXXIV, Number 19
www.mustangdaily.net
Record applicants to California State University The largest school system in the country is flooded with applications the first day mustang daily staff report
More than 25,500 prospective students applied to California State University (CSU) for fall 2010 on Thursday. That is more than double the number who applied in the first 24 hours for the current fall quarter. One reason for the increase in applications is the chancellor’s July 9 announcement of a spring enrollment freeze. The chancellor’s office is hoping to reduce enrollment by 40,000 students system-wide over the next two years. The reduction in enrollment is a plan to save CSU money, because for every dollar in tuition the university collects, it pays two. CSU is currently the largest pub-
lic university system in the country with over 450,000 students. While no advantage is given based on the order in which applications are received, CSU administrators encouraged high school seniors and community college transfer students to apply early and to multiple CSU campuses. About half of the 23 CSU campuses, including Cal Poly, will be cutting back enrollment because of system-wide budget cuts. Some campuses will not accept any applicants after Nov. 30. They may also require that out-of-area applicants have higher admissions criteria, such as grade point average and test scores to give priority to local prospective students. The other CSU campuses will accept applications until their quo-
tas are filled. High school seniors who meet the CSU enrollment criteria will have priority admission to their local school on most CSU campuses. Cal Poly does not give priority to applicants in the Central Coast region, and only 9 percent of the current student body is from the Central Coast region. More than half of the current student body comes from the San Francisco or Los Angeles areas. Enrollment in California community colleges was at its highest ever last year, and the chancellor of the California community college system expects even more this year. Tim Miller contributed to this report.
kevin black
Playground pleases preschoolers Economy persuades Cal Poly’s learning lab was expanded to include an outdoor play area
mary pack special to the mustang daily
Children play at the newly expanded preschool learning lab on Cal Poly’s campus during the dedication on Thursday. Mary Pack special to the mustang daily
Last Thursday, a small crowd of preschoolers, parents, Poly students and campus officials attended the informal dedication of the improved outdoor playground at Cal Poly’s preschool learning lab. The playground is expected to provide more educational opportunities for the 50 or so preschool-
ers who participate in the innovative child development program. “The outdoor space can be just as good of a classroom as an indoor space,” said Cal Poly alum Fran Durekas, who donated some of the $190,000 needed to renovate the playground area, located in the Math and Science building. The renovated playground is filled with unique features, such as a grassy hill, a slide positioned
from the top of the hill, a sand box and even a vegetable garden. A less visible aspect to these areas of the playground is that they “reflect the landscapes of California,” Durekas said during the dedication ceremony. The new space is carefully planned and designed with an abundance of foliage to “connect children more closely to the natural world,” he said. A first look at the playground may not distinguish it from a typical jungle gym, but the abundance of plant life allows for more exploration, such as the grassy hilltop with its strategically placed boulders to help children reach the top. The old playground “used to be a lot of concrete … Now, although minimal, (the playground) encourages both imagination and group play in the children,” child development senior Carolyn Taylor said. Child development students are required to take a quarter-long course working in the preschool lab; some psychology students take the course as well. The children have to be accepted to attend the learning lab as part of a day care program at Cal Poly. see preschool, page 2
4-year-school students to look closer to home Bonnie Miller Rubin chicago tribune
CHICAGO — When Amar Bhatia was weighing his postsecondary options, he chose Indiana University over DePaul University because DePaul’s downtown Chicago campus was just too close to Mom and Dad. Now, as a sophomore, he’s even closer — at Harper Community College, a five-minute drive from his Palatine, Ill., home. “It’s like being a senior all over again,” said the 2008 Fremd High School graduate. Bhatia, 19, is part of a growing pool of students called “reverse transfers.” Rather than use community colleges as a launching pad, these young adults are going the other way. As the recession grinds on, prestige has taken a back seat to affordability. Sky-rocketing university tuition, along with more reluctance to take on huge loans (especially if grades are less than stellar or your major is “undecided”) has spurred students to reconsider an alter-
native they once dismissed. Although recent statistics aren’t available, officials say there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that this group has contributed to the overall record enrollments currently being seen at community colleges nationwide. “This is a direct response to last fall when the economy imploded,” explained Steve Morse, spokesman of the Illinois Community College Board, referring to the rise in “reverse-transfers.” Along with Harper, a number of other area community colleges — Oakton in Des Plaines, Moraine Valley in Palos Hills, Prairie State in Chicago Heights and Joliet — all report an uptick in students making a U-turn. Oakton officials said that this semester’s crop of students have transferred from some highly selective schools, including University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (25 students) and Northwestern University (15). Finances certainly figured heavily into Bhatia’s decision not to return to Indiana, with its picsee Transfers, page 2