San Jose State Rejects Qualified Students for First Time

San Jose State University rejected 4,400 students this year, the first time the school has ever had to turn away qualified students, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Because of budget cuts, the school was forced to cap enrollment this year, enrolling just 29,750, down 9 percent from the previous year. "The situation is unprecedented," said Veril Phillips, San Jose State's vice president for student affairs. "We've never had a situation where there were so many applicants and we were not able to accommodate them."

Because of the school's commitment to local students, all applicants from Santa Clara County were accepted, as were all students who applied before November 20, when the state and school's dire financial situation became more apparent. The school also limited the number of transfer students it allowed in.

Admissions officials have already begun planning for next year in order to prevent the "sledgehammer approach" of this year's rejections, especially because the state's budget problems will most likely not be resolved by then.