In an effort to increase enrollment, The University of South Carolina will try to win over rejected students by guaranteeing some of them acceptance into their smaller campuses.

Starting next spring, some students rejected by USC's main campus in Columbia will receive automatic acceptance letters to one of the system's two-year campuses in Lancaster, Salkehatchie, Sumter and Union.

"We are trying to provide them with many different pathways to get their education," USC Vice President of Student Affairs Dennis Pruitt told the State. "The university is being much more flexible."

Currently, the university sends a brochure with information about other schools within the USC system to applicants who are turned down for USC Columbia, but those students must apply separately to the Other USC schools, the Star reported.

As early as 2013, USC could start sending automatic acceptance letters to its three other four-year colleges in Aiken, Beaufort and Spartanburg. Rejected USC Columbia applicants getting accepted to a two-year USC school will depend on several factors.

To be accepted, students must meet the academic standards of the other USC school to receive an acceptance letter, according to administrators. USC will also consider where the applicants live and their desired majors in choosing which school they get into.

In fact, university officials expect more students attending USC's two-year colleges to transfer to a four-year university within USC's system for a chance to turn an associate's degree into a more lucrative bachelor's degree.

This is just one of the several ways USC wants to bring more students to its campuses.

The university has also established bridge programs with technical colleges to provided two-year degrees, including one called Gamerock Gateway where students can live on the Columbia campus.

Those students learn about the Columbia campus which could lead them to apply to it to complete their bachelor's degree, according to the State.

According to a study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, six out of 10 two-year students go on to get four-year degrees. This new program comes after USC saw a 10 percent drop in the number of enrollments by transfer students last year.

Pruitt said this is an effort to advertise to students at community colleges, letting them know "that [USC is] going to be more receptive to them."