LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The largest public higher education system in the United States confirmed Thursday that it will turn away eligible students for the first time in its history due to lack of funding.

    It means that up to 10,000 students applying for enrollment for the coming academic year in California State University's various campuses will be rejected, university officials said.

    The university system, which has 23 campuses across the state, had already increased class sizes and staffed new courses with lower-paid part-time teachers, but those measures failed to solve the budget crisis, according to Chancellor Charles Reed.

    "We cannot continue to admit students if we do not receive adequate funding from the state to support such enrollment," Reed said. "The quality of all students' education will be degraded by the chronic combination of under-funding and over-enrollment."

    The system had previously announced the possibility of limiting enrollment to 450,000 students statewide because of a funding shortfall, and made it official Thursday at a meeting of its trustees in Long Beach near Los Angeles.

    "The biggest university system in the nation ... is on a starvation diet," said John Garamendi, lieutenant governor of California.

    Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this month predicted that the state's revenue would decline by 11.2 billion dollars by the end of the fiscal year, and proposed 4.7 billion dollars in tax increases coupled with 4.5 billion dollars in further spending cuts.

    University officials said that state funding cuts have backed the university system into a financial corner, and left it currently serving 10,000 more students than the state funds it for.

    In another bid to control enrollment levels, officials will also push up application deadlines.

    Campuses that were over-enrolled for this year will stop accepting applications after November 30, and all campuses will close admissions for first-time freshmen by March 1.

    Shorter enrollment periods could finally shut out students who traditionally apply late, especially hit lower-income families who struggle to find a way to pay for education, Reed said.