THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1999

Students pack CSU campuses

By Ingela Ringbjer

On-Line Forty-Niner

A Tidal Wave is coming to the California State University system - a wave of students.

The rise in enrollment is linked to Tidal Wave II.

"[Tidal Wave II] is sons and daughters of the baby-boomers," Ken Swisher, media relations manager in the Chancellor's Office.

Last fall's enrollment in the California State University system reached its highest figures since 1991 and recorded a nearly two percent increase to 350,254 from 1997 to 1998, he said.

The additional 6,475 students in the fall of 1998 marked the fourth consecutive year the number of students attending the CSU has increased. Since 1994, the CSU has grown by almost ten percent, or 30,886 students, according to enrollment figures compiled by the Chancellor's Office.

"The largest increase over that period was from 1995 to 1996 when it increased by 10,832 students," Swisher said.

There is expected to be an increase in college-aged students, projecting 500,000 additional students seeking a college education in California from 1995 to 2005.

"We will get about 80,000 to 100,000 of them in the CSU system over that time period," Swisher said.

Enrollment increased on 15 of the 22 CSU campuses in 1998. Cal State Long Beach gained 828 students last fall reaching 28,637 new incoming students.

"Long Beach has increased every year over that four-year period," Swisher said.

The highest percentage growth of 23.4 percent was at Cal State Monterey Bay, followed by 15.7 percent at California Maritime Academy, 12.6 percent at Cal State Dominguez Hills, 7.4 percent at Cal State San Marcos and 5.2 percent at Cal State Chico.

Largest enrollment is still counted at San Diego State with 31,453, followed by CSULB at 28,637, San Francisco State at 27,446, Cal State Northridge at 27,203, San Jose State at 26,628 and Cal State Fullerton at 25,675.

The enrollment report is an annual compilation done in the fall, when the CSU gets the majority of new students.

"I would suspect that we're going to continue to grow," Swisher said.