"We won't be able to offer them the classes they need," said Diane Woodruff, chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
She predicted that the lack of classes could drive away 250,000 full- or part-time students; 2.7 million are now enrolled in that system.
The basic requirements for admission to Cal State are high school graduation, completion of college prep course work and a B average. Students with a C average or above can get in with good SAT or ACT test scores.
A number of Cal State's sought-after campuses have for several years cut off some or all applications in the fall, but the official deadline was in the spring and some colleges accepted eligible applicants up to and including the first day of classes.
This year the cutoff for many campuses is Nov. 30, and all colleges will stop taking applications by March 1. San Francisco State has set a Dec. 10 deadline.
Some campuses, including Sonoma, Channel Islands, Northridge, Chico, San Jose, San Marcos and San Francisco, will continue to take all fully qualified students from their own communities. But students from other parts of California may have to show higher grade-point averages and test scores to make the cut at these and other campuses, officials said.
San Diego State, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the most popular campuses, have imposed similar academic restrictions for several years.
Reed said the enrollment cutback will be felt most deeply by students of color already underrepresented in the four-year college system.
"Many students from under-served groups and families of color . . . are unsure about financial aid, when and how to apply . . . and do not make up their minds until spring," he said. They are "who I worry about most."
Lourdes Garcia-Meza, a counselor at John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, said low- and middle-income minority students at her school could be hit hard.
"These are good students and they worked really hard to make it at Cal State Northridge and Cal State L.A.," she said. "It's going to be heartbreaking."
Cal State officials said the cap is a better option than increasing class size or dropping course sections, as they did during a previous economic downturn in the early 1990s. Many students could not enroll in the classes they wanted and dropped out, bringing enrollment figures down.
Cal State currently receives $2.97 billion of its budget from the state's general fund and $1.5 billion from student fees. The system has raised fees six times in seven years. The cost of attending a Cal State college, not including housing, books and other living expenses, is about $3,800 a year.
State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell urged the state Legislature to raise enough revenue to provide higher education to all eligible students.
"Providing access to higher education for all qualified students is key to strengthening our economy in the future," O'Connell said in a written statement.
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gale.holland@latimes.com
Times staff writer Larry Gordon contributed to this article.
