It’s shocking to see how desperate the situation has become for California’s public universities.

The latest disaster in the ongoing budget saga for the once highly respected educational institution came last week when the California State University (CSU) system announced that it would not accept any new admissions for the 2013 spring semester – barring a few small exceptions.

The announcement comes as part of a last ditch effort to save the CSUs by reducing costs and slashing enrollment by about 16,000 students next spring. In addition, another 20,000 to 25,000 students could be kept from enrolling at CSUs for the 2013-2014 academic year if California voters reject a proposed tax measure that could help save the schools.

If the prop – which hasn’t qualified for the ballot yet – fails, CSU would suffer from automatic funding cuts of $200 million. This of course comes in addition to the $750 million budget razing that CSUs were subjected to this year.

As a result of all the budget cuts, CSU schools have been forced to raise tuition and mandatory fees to more than $7,000, roughly double the cost to attend in 2007. Rather than raise fees even further, school administrators have decided to simply close the campus to new students during the spring semester when transfers from community colleges generally flood the CUS system to finish their college education.

To read more about this disturbing development, head over to the Chronicle.

-Eugene