<p>Competition to enter FSU is likely to become even more intense.</p>
<p>*During its meeting Thursday in Tallahassee, the panel that oversees the 11 state universities is set to discuss admitting fewer students next fall.</p>
<p>That means thousands of applicants could find it harder to gain entry at a time when universities are setting the admissions bar higher and higher.</p>
<p>State university system Chancellor Mark Rosenberg told university presidents in a letter Tuesday that he will ask the Board of Governors to “make necessary changes in its admissions policies.”</p>
<p>A $1 billion state budget shortfall this fiscal year has institutions such as the University of South Florida and Florida State University considering layoffs. While each school has said it might consider cutting enrollment, the Board of Governors could make that a reality.</p>
<p>“You can’t continue to take multimillion-dollar budget cuts without serious repercussions,” said Bill Edmonds, the spokesman for the Board of Governors.</p>
<p>**Prospective students with applications pending may feel those repercussions most. Admissions officers at FSU, for instance, are reviewing their applicant pool daily. Before the budget outlook worsened, they anticipated enrolling 6,200 freshmen next fall. They now plan to pare that number to 5,200, which would be FSU’s smallest class in years.</p>
<p>“We know standards are going up, and we know we’ll have a bigger wait list,” said Janice Finney, FSU’s admissions director. “We are overenrolled. We are consciously shrinking.”***</p>
<p>See:
[University</a> system may order enrollment cut](<a href=“http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080123/NEWS/801230688&SearchID=73306425998821]University”>http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080123/NEWS/801230688&SearchID=73306425998821)</p>