University of Calif. nonresident admissions soar EDUCATION Higher-paying out-of-state students add to university's shrinking coffers

Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close University of Calif. nonresident admissions soar 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

The number of non-Californians accepted as freshmen to the state's premier public university has nearly doubled in just two years, the University of California reported Tuesday.

New admissions data show that UC has steadily increased its freshman admission offers to students from other states or nations, with nearly a quarter of all those admitted this fall - 23 percent, or 18,846 students - coming from elsewhere. Two years ago, just 14 percent of offers went to non-Californians, or 9,552.

Nonresidents pay nearly three times the tuition and fees of in-state students - about $36,000 compared with $13,000 - a tantalizing prospect for a university that has seen its budget cut by about a billion dollars during the last few years.

As cuts continue to rain down from Sacramento, UC has accepted more of these higher-paying students as part of its strategy.

It's a sensitive subject in California, where the perception is that carpetbaggers are displacing residents.

Even Gov. Jerry Brown weighed in after a speech Tuesday, saying, "I don't like that at all," when a reporter asked what he thought of the influx at UC.

Funding is the issue

But UC officials insist that no eligible Californian is denied admission because of nonresident students, who cover the cost of their own education by paying full freight.

Not so with in-state students, who are heavily subsidized with public funds. The problem isn't space at UC's nine undergraduate campuses, which university officials say could accommodate more in-state students if UC had the money to cover the cost of educating them.

"It's true. California residents are being squeezed out because we don't have the funding to enroll them," said Kate Jeffery, UC's interim director of undergraduate admissions.

Yet UC accepted 2,155 more California high school graduates this year than last, an increase of 3.6 percent.

Not everyone accepted to UC will enroll. But overall, UC sent acceptance letters to 80,289 qualified and occasionally talented applicants.

They are 61,443 from California, including those accepted automatically for being in the top 9 percent of their high school class; 10,309 from out-of-state; and 8,537 from other countries.

Many more applicants had hoped to be accepted, but UC admitted just 64 percent of those vying to get in.

The new portrait of UC's freshman acceptances shows differences among the nine campuses not only in their shifting balance of in-state and out-of-state students, but in ethnicity and selectivity.

UC Berkeley and UCLA, traditionally the most difficult to get in to, became even tougher this year. Each accepted about 21 percent of applicants, down from 25 percent last year.

UC Merced admissions

By contrast, newcomer UC Merced, which opened less than seven years ago in the Central Valley between Stockton and Fresno, accepted 75 percent of applicants. It's the campus where students are offered admission if they satisfy UC's basic requirements but can't fully compete with higher achieving students at other campuses.

But J. Michael Thompson, Merced's assistant vice chancellor of enrollment management, warned against assuming his campus is anything but excellent.

"You'd be surprised at the vitality and the remarkable things happening at Merced," Thompson said. Nearly 60 percent of students are first-generation college students, yet even Merced has become more selective. Last year, it took 78 percent of applicants.

UC accepted more students of color systemwide this year in each ethnic group, and slightly fewer white students.

Black applicants have seen a steady, two-year rise in acceptances at UC Santa Cruz (up 50 percent, to 682 students since 2010) and UC Santa Barbara (up 24 percent, to 704).

Latino applicants have also seen a steady rise in acceptances since 2010 at UC Berkeley (up 18 percent, to 1,660), UC Santa Cruz (up 49 percent, to 5,201), UCLA (up 23 percent, to 1,958) and UC Merced (up 37 percent, to 3,778).

It's worth noting that some campuses are also touting the talents of their accepted freshmen.

UC Berkeley, for example, announced that among its admissions are an expert ping-pong player, an Irish dancer and a figure skater, as well as a TV star, a champion roller skater, and assorted winners of national speech and debate tournaments.