Deans and associate deans met with Vice Provost Cynthia Rawitch Monday to discuss the possibility of increasing the number of full-time equivalent students (FTES) to accommodate graduating seniors. The Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communications will begin to open seats today, said Robert Bucker, dean of the college.

Emails circulating Monday requested deans and associate deans calculate the number of FTES needed to accommodate graduating seniors.

The spring semester began with a 15-unit cap, and less class seats because CSUN is faced with a $7 million penalty from the CSU for exceeding the FTES enrollment capacity. CSUN is allowed to surpass this number by 3 percent, but was 6.3 percent over in Fall 2011, Rawitch told the Sundial in November.

The CSU may incur a trigger cut of $200 million in 2013 if voters do not approve Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative in November. This is in addition to the $650 million decrease in state funds from the 2011-2012 state budget and a $100 million in trigger cuts in December 2011, the Sundial reported.

FTES is a calculation used by the state to determine funding levels per student and represents a theoretical student with 15 units. This could be a student with seven units and another student with eight units equaling one FTES, or any combination of students to equal 15 units.