Education Refugee: California students seek out-of-state universities due to budget cuts

Oct 6 2009 - 10:58pm | Chase Birthisel

Ben Rondeau/Star photo

Traveling away from home and friends to the unfamiliar grounds of Texas State is a choice students make in order to chase higher education and opportunity.

For Sarah Lowenstein, it was her only shot.

Lowenstein, pre-mass communications sophomore, attended De Anza College, a California community college within the San Francisco region. She said her plan was to transfer to California State University-East Bay in fall 2010, but because of difficulties, was told she would be unable to enroll until spring 2010.

“So I immediately went onto the school’s Web site to check out the application date for spring 2010,” Lowenstein said. “Next to the column for the spring, in big, bold, capital letters, there was the word ‘closed’. I was like, that is so weird. How can it be closed when it hasn’t opened yet?”

After researching online, Lowenstein said she found out why her campus, and all other California State University campuses, had closed.

According to the California State University’s official Web site in a press release on July 9, 2009, “As part of an overall strategy to address an unprecedented budget reduction of $584 million for 2009-10, California State University campuses will not accept student applications for the 2010 spring term — with very few exceptions.”

CSU has 23 campuses, almost 450,000 students, and is the largest university system in the country, according to its Web site.

“When I read this, I didn’t believe it,” Lowenstein said. “What this meant was I would be out for an entire year. I’m already behind, and I couldn’t take anymore classes that would count.”

Lowenstein said she had to act fast to make life-changing decisions.

“I had three options,” Lowenstein said. “I could go back to Chicago where I’m originally from, or I could come to school here and live with my sister and mom who moved (to Texas). My third option was to wait it out and find out what’s really going on. The only problem with waiting is if I did, my other two options would be gone.”

The thought of leaving California made her cry, Lowenstein said, but she missed her family.

“I was looking closely at Texas State and their mass communication program,” Lowenstein said. “I was talking to my mom, and she was asking me what I was going to do. I said I looked at the Texas State Web site and it said the deadline is July 15 for applications, and then I stopped, and I thought to myself that is tomorrow. I told her I’d call her back, ran to the library, filled out an application, sent it in that day and crossed my fingers.”

Lowenstein said after discovering she was accepted, she only had four days to pack and drive to Texas State for orientation.

“It was really hard,” Lowenstein said. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to a lot of people. I never thought it would end so quickly, and it still hasn’t quite hit me yet.”

The situation seems strange, but Lowenstein said she is not the only student dealing with this. She expects more California students to transfer here in the future.

According to the Office of Administration, the number of prospective students from California for the fall semester at Texas State has climbed from 229 prospects in 2007 to 299 in 2009.

According to the Institutional Research at Texas State, 41 students from California enrolled last fall. Unofficially, 60 students are from California this semester.

Jose Laird, associate vice president of enrollment management, said the research shows a considerable increase, though further research is necessary.

“I did visit with a student this past year from California,” Laird said. “I asked him, how did we get on (his) radar? He said things are falling apart in California, so he was kind of looking to get out.”

Guadalupe Mora, a Walnut, California native, said she transferred to Texas State from Mount San Antonio College this year after her financial aid was cut.

“In March, everything started adding up,” Mora said. “I wasn’t going to get financial aid and my grants were being delayed. It just started going downhill from there.”

Mora, English sophomore, said she felt as if a rug was being pulled from underneath her.

“I’m very family oriented,” Mora said tearing up. “I’ve lived in California my entire life. For it to get so bad I have to leave home, come here and cry everyday for like a month, that alone tells you something.”

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