UC on track to enroll more Californians
The University of California offered admission this year to more than 130,000 freshmen and transfer students for the fall and expects to increase the enrollment of Californians by 2,500 students.
The numbers put the university system on track to meet its goal of increasing the enrollment of students from California by 10,000 between 2015 and 2018, according to a report UC released Thursday.
“More California students are enrolled at the University of California than at any point in its history,” UC officials said in a statement intended to reassure parents, students and lawmakers that the university is carrying out its primary mission of educating state residents, despite a growing reliance on nonresidents, who pay more than triple the in-state tuition.
The state has encouraged UC to enroll more
California freshmen and transfer students by promising to pay for the enrollment growth. This fiscal year, it’s giving UC $18.5 million to enroll an additional 2,500 resident students. Last year, it offered $25 million for 5,000 more students, and UC raised California enrollment by 7,400.
The report sheds light on the number of students UC has invited to enroll this fall — not on the number who will actually attend, which UC says it is still figuring out.
In all, UC offered admission for this fall to 24,685 transfer students (up 3.4 percent since last year) and 106,011 freshmen (down 1.7 percent). Of the freshmen invited to attend, 66 percent are Californians, 17 percent are residents of other states and 17 percent are from other countries.
Asian Americans and Latinos each make up about a third of all students offered admission. Nearly a quarter of admitted students are white, and 5 percent are black.
“We welcome this accomplished, talented group of applicants to the university,” said UC President Janet Napolitano. “All of us — in California, and throughout the nation and world — will be enriched by their talent, curiosity and drive to learn and succeed.”
Under California’s Master Plan for Higher Education, UC admits all state residents who rank in the top 9 percent of their high school class or in the top 9 percent of high school seniors statewide. But it does not guarantee that students get into the campus of their choice. Instead, UC-qualified students who don’t get into their preferred campus are invited to attend UC Merced — the system’s newest campus, which opened in 2005.
As the catch-all campus for those students, UC Merced admitted 72 percent of applicants this year, compared with 16 percent admitted to UCLA. That campus displaced UC Berkeley this year as the most selective. UC Berkeley came in second, admitting 18 percent. Admission rates at the remaining six undergraduate campuses ranged from 33 percent at UC Santa Barbara to 57 percent at UC Riverside.
Fall tuition will rise for the first time since 2011 — although California students from families earning up to $156,000 won’t have to pay the higher price and those from families earning up to $80,000 will pay no tuition at all.
The base price of a year at a UC campus for California students will be $12,630, up nearly 3 percent. With the cost of campus fees, room, board and books, the total annual cost for state residents will be more than $34,000 for students living on campus.
Out-of-state students will pay a base price of $40,644, up more than 4 percent. The total annual cost for nonresidents will be about $61,000 if they live on campus. For the first time this year, campuses must cap the percentage of nonresident students at 18 to 24 percent, depending on the campus.
Here are other highlights from the admissions report released Thursday:
UC has offered freshman admission to 69,972 Californians, or 63 percent of the 111,856 who applied.
Freshman admissions for Californians is down 1.7 percent compared with last year’s 71,178.
UC has offered freshman admission to 36,039 nonresidents, or 60 percent of the 60,011 who applied.
Freshman admissions of nonresidents are up 4.5 percent compared with last year’s 34,493.
This year, as last year, half of nonresident freshmen admissions come from other countries.
UC has offered admission to 24,685 California community college transfer students, or 76 percent of the 32,329 who applied.