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International students entering UC Santa Cruz tour Science Hill as part of an intensive 10-day orientation on cultural norms, English language and navigating the campus. vigating the campus.
SANTA CRUZ – UC Santa Cruz dipped its admission of California high schoolers for the upcoming school year while upping its admission of international students more than any other school in the system, preliminary data released by the UC shows. The 14 percent drop in UC Santa Cruz’s admission of students from within the state is the largest in a UC system where in-state admissions are down about 2 percent overall, after a strong swell in 2016.
Applications to the campus from California students, meanwhile, were up more than 6 percent ahead of last year.
The school’s admission of foreign applicants surged by more than third over the prior year, with 74 percent of international applicants earning admittance – double the average rate of the eight other campuses. Admission of students from out-of-state also rose by 12 percent from the prior year. More international and out-of-state students means more money for a UC system that continues to face rising costs and spiralling debt.
Where undergraduate enrollees from within California can expect to pay $14,025 in tuition and fees for the coming year, out-of-state and international students pay $42,039, according to data released by the UC Santa Cruz financial aid office.
Admissions numbers are based on enrollment targets the school sets for in-state, out-of-state and international students. International students are also ineligible for federal and state financial aid.
“I’m not going to lie, part of it is that those students when they’re paying out of state tuition are going to be an additional revenue source,” said Michael McCawley, UC Santa Cruz’s director of admissions. “That’s something that is factored in.”
But McCawley emphasized that the school’s allotment for students from within California starts at the state level.
“How much is the state funding us for our California students? That’s what determines our California targets,” McCawley said. Rather than leading a new trend, McCawley said, the drastic increase of acceptance of international students is “a little playing catchup.” “We probably came to that a little later than many of our sister campuses,” McCawley said. “They were already doing this for years.”
Even after the big bump, UC Santa Cruz admitted proportionately fewer international students than UC Davis, UC Irvine and UC San Diego, the preliminary data shows. The decline in admissions for California students comes on the heels of last year’s record admission numbers for students from within the state, spurred a push by the UC system to enroll 10,000 more California students by the 2018-19 school year. Despite this year’s drop, the UC said early in July it’s still on pace to meet that goal.
In May, UC regents approved the first-ever cap on out-of-state and international enrollment, setting a ceiling of 18 percent at UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara. UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego and UC Riverside, which exceed the ceiling, are allowed to keep but not increase their higher level under the new policy.
That decision followed a state auditor report released in 2016 that found the UCs lowered admissions standards for out-of-state students, turning away thousands of more qualified California high school seniors. With a larger than ever applicant pool, UC Santa Cruz also increased its admission selectivity. The campus offered admission to 5 percent fewer freshman than the year before, which it attributed to a particularly large class in 2016 and reduced enrollment targets for the coming year.
The applicant pool for the coming year, both for UC Santa Cruz and the system as a whole, continued to rise.
More than 171,000 students applied to one or more of the UC’s nine campuses, setting a new record.
A majority of the 52,507 students who applied to UC Santa Cruz’s upcoming freshman class – some 75 percent – as well as a majority who were accepted, about 70 percent, reside within California, the data shows.
UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal was unavailable for comment.
UCSC ADMISSION
2016 2017 Change
CA admissions: 22,316 19,258 -13.7%
Out-of-state admits: 2,732 3082 12.8%
International admits: 3,657 4,876 33.3%
CA applicants: 40,133 42,692 6.4%
Out-of-state applicants: 3,380 3,470 2.7%
International applicants: 5,620 6,345 12.9%
Source: University of California
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If you are struggling with writing your essay for the university, we have some great tips to help. Read our advice, improve your skills and surprise your professor and other students.
For any student, writing an essay is the worst nightmare they ever had. Is it really so hard or it's possible to fight this fear? Of course, it's only your own decision what to do – to fight or give up, but your fear appears only because of lack of experience and knowledge. That means you are able to change this and improve your writing skills. We have gathered several great tips that will be your knowledge, but the experience part is your own hard work, and that should be based on information you got from our short article.
1. Plan your work
Your teacher in the university gives a writing task and sets a deadline to give you enough time to plan, research and write your essay. But of course, most students don't care about this, and they usually try to write everything the last night before the deadline. Some students are sure that it's a right way to do even. Needless to say they usually write a mess and get bad marks. To avoid this, try to plan your work beforehand. Don't leave everything for the last day because it's nearly impossible even for a qualified professional to write a great work during the one night. Try to get for about a week for research, two weeks for writing, and a week for proofreading, rewriting your draft and polish your work. Apart from feeling calm that you don't need to hurry up, you will learn how to be an accurate and punctual person as well as plan your own time wisely.
2. The outline comes before writing
Many students think that making an outline is a sort of excess work, that's why they always ignore it and start writing without a clear plan in their head. As a result, they may be confused during writing because they have no idea where they should start and how they need to end their essay. That's why creating an outline is a very important procedure that helps you to write clear and logically. Remember that a good outline is like your mind map that would never let you get lost in your own writing. Thanks to your plan, you will stay focused on your essay's goals and cover each paragraph of your work as fully as possible. With an outline, you'd never get stuck with your writing, and your finished work will be well-organized and logical, so you will be understood by your readers in a fast and easy way.
3. Start from the middle
Sometimes writers can feel stuck with their work at the very beginning because they have no idea how it's better to start. Of course, it's hard to figure out how to make a bright introduction that will grab the readers' attention when all you have is just a clean sheet of paper. So, just skip the introduction and start to write your essay, you always can come back to the first paragraph later and it will be easier to write it when you already have some paragraphs of your work finished.
4. Avoid plagiarism and use only reliable sources
When you just copy phrases from internet sources of books and use them in a way that they're your own words, this is plagiarism. Needless to say you wouldn't be able to get a good mark because it's a real cheating. Though if you use quotes in your work, then you have rights to copy other's author words and place it into your work. Keep in your mind that you should cite all sources properly. When you surf the internet or read books for researching your topic, remember that you should use only reliable sources like Wikipedia: https://www.wikipedia.org/, or others you can trust.
5. Proofread your work thoroughly
When your paper is finished, it's time to proofread it and correct all mistakes. Many students prefer to skip this step, they think reviewing their work is a boring and useless thing. But in reality, it's a great chance to improve and polish your essay, so don't neglect this important possibility. Plan your time and don't rush into correcting errors just after you finished writing. Take a break, at least for several hours or even better for a couple days. With refreshed eyes and clear mind you will be able to find and correct more mistakes than if you'd do the same feeling tired after writing process.
We hope our tips will be useful for improving your writing ability, and your readers will be amazed to read your interesting essays. Just plan your time and work hard, and you will get a great result that worth of your trying! If you are interested to get more interesting and useful tips, find more samples http://www.topadmit.com/en/samples. We are always glad to help you improve your writing and make the process interesting and productive.
For any student, writing an essay is the worst nightmare they ever had. Is it really so hard or it's possible to fight this fear? Of course, it's only your own decision what to do – to fight or give up, but your fear appears only because of lack of experience and knowledge. That means you are able to change this and improve your writing skills. We have gathered several great tips that will be your knowledge, but the experience part is your own hard work, and that should be based on information you got from our short article.
1. Plan your work
Your teacher in the university gives a writing task and sets a deadline to give you enough time to plan, research and write your essay. But of course, most students don't care about this, and they usually try to write everything the last night before the deadline. Some students are sure that it's a right way to do even. Needless to say they usually write a mess and get bad marks. To avoid this, try to plan your work beforehand. Don't leave everything for the last day because it's nearly impossible even for a qualified professional to write a great work during the one night. Try to get for about a week for research, two weeks for writing, and a week for proofreading, rewriting your draft and polish your work. Apart from feeling calm that you don't need to hurry up, you will learn how to be an accurate and punctual person as well as plan your own time wisely.
2. The outline comes before writing
Many students think that making an outline is a sort of excess work, that's why they always ignore it and start writing without a clear plan in their head. As a result, they may be confused during writing because they have no idea where they should start and how they need to end their essay. That's why creating an outline is a very important procedure that helps you to write clear and logically. Remember that a good outline is like your mind map that would never let you get lost in your own writing. Thanks to your plan, you will stay focused on your essay's goals and cover each paragraph of your work as fully as possible. With an outline, you'd never get stuck with your writing, and your finished work will be well-organized and logical, so you will be understood by your readers in a fast and easy way.
3. Start from the middle
Sometimes writers can feel stuck with their work at the very beginning because they have no idea how it's better to start. Of course, it's hard to figure out how to make a bright introduction that will grab the readers' attention when all you have is just a clean sheet of paper. So, just skip the introduction and start to write your essay, you always can come back to the first paragraph later and it will be easier to write it when you already have some paragraphs of your work finished.
4. Avoid plagiarism and use only reliable sources
When you just copy phrases from internet sources of books and use them in a way that they're your own words, this is plagiarism. Needless to say you wouldn't be able to get a good mark because it's a real cheating. Though if you use quotes in your work, then you have rights to copy other's author words and place it into your work. Keep in your mind that you should cite all sources properly. When you surf the internet or read books for researching your topic, remember that you should use only reliable sources like Wikipedia: https://www.wikipedia.org/, or others you can trust.
5. Proofread your work thoroughly
When your paper is finished, it's time to proofread it and correct all mistakes. Many students prefer to skip this step, they think reviewing their work is a boring and useless thing. But in reality, it's a great chance to improve and polish your essay, so don't neglect this important possibility. Plan your time and don't rush into correcting errors just after you finished writing. Take a break, at least for several hours or even better for a couple days. With refreshed eyes and clear mind you will be able to find and correct more mistakes than if you'd do the same feeling tired after writing process.
We hope our tips will be useful for improving your writing ability, and your readers will be amazed to read your interesting essays. Just plan your time and work hard, and you will get a great result that worth of your trying! If you are interested to get more interesting and useful tips, find more samples http://www.topadmit.com/en/samples. We are always glad to help you improve your writing and make the process interesting and productive.
- Published on
UC Irvine students Angela Vera, left, and Daniela Estrada are part of the growing Latino student population at the university. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
For most of her life, Angela Vera never imagined herself at the University of California. She grew up in a low-income Santa Ana neighborhood, the daughter of a Mexico-born carpenter with second-grade schooling who stressed the value of education but didn’t know how to guide her.
“I always thought UC was for students up here,” she said, holding her hand above her head. “I never saw myself as capable.”
But after a Santa Ana College counselor encouraged her to raise her sights, Vera transferred to UC Irvine two years ago. The campus, she said, gave her the financial aid, academic support and leadership opportunities she needed to thrive — and fueled her ambitions to pursue a graduate degree after she completes a double major in criminology law and society and social ecology next year.
UC Irvine may seem an unlikely haven for Latino students. The campus is located in what used to be a largely white Republican community, home now to so many Asians that people joke that UCI stands for University of Chinese Immigrants.
But the Irvine campus is now the most popular UC choice for Latino freshmen applicants, topping longtime leader UCLA for the first time last fall. And last month the campus won federal recognition for serving Latinos — a still-rare distinction among elite research universities.
In all, 492 campuses in 19 states and Puerto Rico have been designated Hispanic Serving Institutions, which allows them to apply for about $100 million annually in federal research grants. To qualify, the campus student population must be 25% Latino, with more than half financially needy.
In California, nearly all Cal State campuses, at least half of California Community Colleges and half of UC campuses have received the recognition. But UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara are the only HSI campuses among the 62 members of the Assn. of American Universities — an elite network of public and private research universities that includes the Ivy League, UC, Stanford and USC.
Just three of the nation’s 100 universities with the largest federal research portfolios are HSI campuses — UC Irvine ranking second to a specialized cancer center at the University of Texas, said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, which represents 1,600 colleges and universities.
“One concern about major research universities is that they don’t necessarily look like the population of the United States,” Hartle said. “They are overrepresented with whites and Asians and underrepresented with African Americans and Hispanics.
“What you’re seeing at UC Irvine … is a conscious decision to make certain they expand the nature of the population they’re serving.”
UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman said the campus has pushed to diversify its campus as part of its public mission and urged other top institutions to do the same.
“We think it’s important to show that great higher education can be there for all of the people,” he said. “The demographics of the state are changing, and great institutions that were there for generations past should also be there for generations of the future.”
For the first time ever, more than half of UC Irvine’s graduating class this year are first-generation college students.
UC Irvine, Gillman said, is not only admitting more Latino students but also helping them succeed. Eight of 10 freshmen who entered in 2010-11 graduated within six years, about equal to whites and blacks and just below Asians. Graduation rates for transfer students are even higher.
Success took time. The campus began laying the groundwork in 1983, when it created the Santa Ana Partnership with local schools, Santa Ana College and Cal State Fullerton to improve college-going rates in the area. It intensified the efforts after state voters in 1996 passed Proposition 209 banning race-based affirmative action, said Stephanie Reyes-Tuccio, executive director of the Center for Educational Partnerships.
“I always thought UC was for students up here,” she said, holding her hand above her head. “I never saw myself as capable.”
But after a Santa Ana College counselor encouraged her to raise her sights, Vera transferred to UC Irvine two years ago. The campus, she said, gave her the financial aid, academic support and leadership opportunities she needed to thrive — and fueled her ambitions to pursue a graduate degree after she completes a double major in criminology law and society and social ecology next year.
UC Irvine may seem an unlikely haven for Latino students. The campus is located in what used to be a largely white Republican community, home now to so many Asians that people joke that UCI stands for University of Chinese Immigrants.
But the Irvine campus is now the most popular UC choice for Latino freshmen applicants, topping longtime leader UCLA for the first time last fall. And last month the campus won federal recognition for serving Latinos — a still-rare distinction among elite research universities.
In all, 492 campuses in 19 states and Puerto Rico have been designated Hispanic Serving Institutions, which allows them to apply for about $100 million annually in federal research grants. To qualify, the campus student population must be 25% Latino, with more than half financially needy.
In California, nearly all Cal State campuses, at least half of California Community Colleges and half of UC campuses have received the recognition. But UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara are the only HSI campuses among the 62 members of the Assn. of American Universities — an elite network of public and private research universities that includes the Ivy League, UC, Stanford and USC.
Just three of the nation’s 100 universities with the largest federal research portfolios are HSI campuses — UC Irvine ranking second to a specialized cancer center at the University of Texas, said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, which represents 1,600 colleges and universities.
“One concern about major research universities is that they don’t necessarily look like the population of the United States,” Hartle said. “They are overrepresented with whites and Asians and underrepresented with African Americans and Hispanics.
“What you’re seeing at UC Irvine … is a conscious decision to make certain they expand the nature of the population they’re serving.”
UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman said the campus has pushed to diversify its campus as part of its public mission and urged other top institutions to do the same.
“We think it’s important to show that great higher education can be there for all of the people,” he said. “The demographics of the state are changing, and great institutions that were there for generations past should also be there for generations of the future.”
For the first time ever, more than half of UC Irvine’s graduating class this year are first-generation college students.
UC Irvine, Gillman said, is not only admitting more Latino students but also helping them succeed. Eight of 10 freshmen who entered in 2010-11 graduated within six years, about equal to whites and blacks and just below Asians. Graduation rates for transfer students are even higher.
Success took time. The campus began laying the groundwork in 1983, when it created the Santa Ana Partnership with local schools, Santa Ana College and Cal State Fullerton to improve college-going rates in the area. It intensified the efforts after state voters in 1996 passed Proposition 209 banning race-based affirmative action, said Stephanie Reyes-Tuccio, executive director of the Center for Educational Partnerships.
"One concern about major research universities is that they don’t necessarily look like the population of the United States." — Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education
The center serves 12,000 largely low-income students a year, three-fourths of them Latino, with programs to prepare them for college and help them succeed. It supports those interested in science, technology, engineering and math and helped develop a college-going plan for every high school student in the Santa Ana Unified School District. Affiliated faculty also conduct research and offer teacher training.
About 85% of high school students who work with the center complete the college prep coursework required for UC and Cal State, compared with the statewide average of 43%, Reyes-Tuccio said. She raises about three-fourths of her $10-million annual budget from public grants, private gifts.
Several Latino students said they chose UC Irvine because of generous financial aid and proximity to their families in surrounding cities. But many said they experienced culture shock moving from largely Latino neighborhoods and schools to the university, where only a quarter of students share their ethnic background.
Gloria Ochoa and David Cosme, both transfer students from Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, said they initially were taken aback by conservative student rallies against immigrants and Muslims, featuring signs such as “Build That Wall” and “You’re Not Welcome Here.”
“I was wondering if I chose the right school,” said Cosme, a third-year sociology major who was born in Mexico and is the first in his family to attend college. “I wondered if I would fit in. Would I have to hide my identity?”
But he and Ochoa said they soon discovered supportive faculty and staff, more than 25 Latino student organizations and campus centers offering many support services.
Cosme found a comfort zone volunteering with the campus food pantry and a Chicano student organization, MEChA. “UCI provides a lot of spaces for my community to feel safe and express ourselves,” he said.
Ochoa, a third-year psychology and social behavior major, said she was amazed by the offerings at the Cross-Cultural Center, where she attended a workshop on trans Latina activism. Her disappointment at being wait-listed at UCLA vanished, she said, when she discovered the rich research opportunities at UC Irvine, where she is applying for positions to study autism and developmental disabilities.
“One great thing about UCI that they don’t get a lot of recognition and credit for is that a lot of faculty do research and there are so many labs to apply to,” Ochoa said.
Stephanie Gonzalez, 22, discovered her “family” as she calls it, at the Student Outreach and Retention Center, where she was able to find friends, leadership opportunities and food — peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that eased hunger pains since she could not afford a campus meal plan. She was hired by the center to develop mentorship programs and trained peer advisers to help students through such hardships as homesickness, breakups and academic struggles.
Daniela Estrada, daughter of a cook and hospital worker from Mexico, credited much of her success to campus mentors.
A counselor with the SAGE Scholars program for academically gifted, low-income students helped her craft a resume that landed her a law firm job when she thought she was unqualified. Mark Petracca, the associate dean for undergraduate studies in the School of Social Sciences, passed along research opportunities and nominated her for the prestigious Truman Scholarship, which provides up to $30,000 for graduate studies leading to a public service job. She plans to attend law school to become a public defender after completing a Fulbright program teaching English in Colombia.
“Professor Petracca changed my experience and trajectory and future by believing in me more than I did in myself,” said Estrada, a political science major who will graduate this month. “That’s what so many students want: someone to believe in them.”
UC Irvine’s performance reviews reward faculty who contribute to “inclusive excellence.” The campus has created a database to connect faculty to opportunities to advance diversity and equity and has set a goal for at least half of them to be involved by 2020-21.
Some students said the campus could do more — offer more scholarships, for instance, and expand the food pantry. Administrators say they aim to do both with more funding opportunities as an HSI campus. A few students said they were being marginalized by a plan to relocate space for immigrant and LGBTQ students to a less central part of campus, although a university spokesman said the facilities will be upgraded and more spacious.
As for Vera, UC Irvine gave her a full ride and a chancellor’s scholarship to volunteer in Peru. She has found friends and a way to express her cultural identity, especially dancing for the Ballet Folklórico de UCI.
The once insecure Latina who never dreamed she could attend UC Irvine is now its irrepressible evangelist.
About 85% of high school students who work with the center complete the college prep coursework required for UC and Cal State, compared with the statewide average of 43%, Reyes-Tuccio said. She raises about three-fourths of her $10-million annual budget from public grants, private gifts.
Several Latino students said they chose UC Irvine because of generous financial aid and proximity to their families in surrounding cities. But many said they experienced culture shock moving from largely Latino neighborhoods and schools to the university, where only a quarter of students share their ethnic background.
Gloria Ochoa and David Cosme, both transfer students from Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, said they initially were taken aback by conservative student rallies against immigrants and Muslims, featuring signs such as “Build That Wall” and “You’re Not Welcome Here.”
“I was wondering if I chose the right school,” said Cosme, a third-year sociology major who was born in Mexico and is the first in his family to attend college. “I wondered if I would fit in. Would I have to hide my identity?”
But he and Ochoa said they soon discovered supportive faculty and staff, more than 25 Latino student organizations and campus centers offering many support services.
Cosme found a comfort zone volunteering with the campus food pantry and a Chicano student organization, MEChA. “UCI provides a lot of spaces for my community to feel safe and express ourselves,” he said.
Ochoa, a third-year psychology and social behavior major, said she was amazed by the offerings at the Cross-Cultural Center, where she attended a workshop on trans Latina activism. Her disappointment at being wait-listed at UCLA vanished, she said, when she discovered the rich research opportunities at UC Irvine, where she is applying for positions to study autism and developmental disabilities.
“One great thing about UCI that they don’t get a lot of recognition and credit for is that a lot of faculty do research and there are so many labs to apply to,” Ochoa said.
Stephanie Gonzalez, 22, discovered her “family” as she calls it, at the Student Outreach and Retention Center, where she was able to find friends, leadership opportunities and food — peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that eased hunger pains since she could not afford a campus meal plan. She was hired by the center to develop mentorship programs and trained peer advisers to help students through such hardships as homesickness, breakups and academic struggles.
Daniela Estrada, daughter of a cook and hospital worker from Mexico, credited much of her success to campus mentors.
A counselor with the SAGE Scholars program for academically gifted, low-income students helped her craft a resume that landed her a law firm job when she thought she was unqualified. Mark Petracca, the associate dean for undergraduate studies in the School of Social Sciences, passed along research opportunities and nominated her for the prestigious Truman Scholarship, which provides up to $30,000 for graduate studies leading to a public service job. She plans to attend law school to become a public defender after completing a Fulbright program teaching English in Colombia.
“Professor Petracca changed my experience and trajectory and future by believing in me more than I did in myself,” said Estrada, a political science major who will graduate this month. “That’s what so many students want: someone to believe in them.”
UC Irvine’s performance reviews reward faculty who contribute to “inclusive excellence.” The campus has created a database to connect faculty to opportunities to advance diversity and equity and has set a goal for at least half of them to be involved by 2020-21.
Some students said the campus could do more — offer more scholarships, for instance, and expand the food pantry. Administrators say they aim to do both with more funding opportunities as an HSI campus. A few students said they were being marginalized by a plan to relocate space for immigrant and LGBTQ students to a less central part of campus, although a university spokesman said the facilities will be upgraded and more spacious.
As for Vera, UC Irvine gave her a full ride and a chancellor’s scholarship to volunteer in Peru. She has found friends and a way to express her cultural identity, especially dancing for the Ballet Folklórico de UCI.
The once insecure Latina who never dreamed she could attend UC Irvine is now its irrepressible evangelist.
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UC Merced pricier than UCLA? The surprising cost to live on campus
This fall, as crazy as it sounds, it will be more expensive to live on campus at UC Riverside than at UCLA, and pricier to bunk in the dorms at UC Merced in the Central Valley than at UC San Diego in tony La Jolla.
CSU Fullerton will charge $2,500 more than Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. And while it’s no shock that room-and-board at UC Berkeley will cost more than any other public university in the Golden State, the second-most expensive school for housing is hardly a household name — or located in a hot rental market: It’s CSU Channel Islands in the Ventura County town of Camarillo.
A new analysis of university room-and-board costs by this news organization shows the price of living on campus is often out-of-whack with local housing costs and is becoming one of the prime factors in the runaway cost of attending a four-year college.
CSU Fullerton will charge $2,500 more than Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. And while it’s no shock that room-and-board at UC Berkeley will cost more than any other public university in the Golden State, the second-most expensive school for housing is hardly a household name — or located in a hot rental market: It’s CSU Channel Islands in the Ventura County town of Camarillo.
A new analysis of university room-and-board costs by this news organization shows the price of living on campus is often out-of-whack with local housing costs and is becoming one of the prime factors in the runaway cost of attending a four-year college.
“That is really surprising,” said Christopher Palmer, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business who studies housing markets and proves even with a PhD in economics, it’s tough figuring out how California’s universities calculate housing costs.
Universities are under intense pressure to hold the line on tuition hikes, and the tuition increases set to hit both University of California and California State University students this fall have been widely debated. But room-and-board costs receive far less scrutiny.
Yet in the last 10 years, housing costs at UC campuses have jumped some 30 percent, making it increasingly difficult for some low-income students to earn a degree. “It’s impacting students’ and families’ ability to pay for college,” said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, who has backed several proposals in Sacramento recently aimed at helping students pay not only for tuition, but housing and dining costs, during college.
One of the most puzzling things about housing costs is how some universities have become so out-of-sync compared to the local market. UC Merced, the system’s least popular school, has the biggest gap between on-campus and off-campus living costs: nearly $8,000. It costs nearly twice as much to live on campus as it does to rent an apartment nearby.
UC Merced, opened in 2005, is among the more expensive of the UC schools when it comes to on-campus housing. (Courtesy of UC Merced)
While UC tuition is the same across the system, each campus sets its own prices for everything else from housing to printing costs, which means that a UC diploma can have a variety of price tags.
Officials at UC Merced say that as the school has grown, it’s had to add new buildings and services for students living on campus. “So while the off-campus market fluctuates based on the local real estate market, on-campus rates are driven more by the cost to maintain and expand the programs offered to support our students,” said Brenda Ortiz, a spokeswoman for the campus.
Colleges also calculate average room-and-board costs slightly differently, and students can choose from several living and dining plans.
Still the numbers underscore a persistent and growing problem: Unpredictable and rising living expenses are pricing some students out of higher education.
Systemwide, the average cost of living on campus next year will be $15,396, up about 6 percent from $14,520 this year, according to preliminary figures.
Berkeley’s on-campus living costs are set to be higher than any of other four-year public university in the state: $17,549, up more than $1,000 from $16,389.
Zach Gamlieli, Berkeley Student Cooperative President, left, talks with Tom Edmondson, a former co-op resident, in a double room at Casa Zimbabwe in Berkeley, Calif. on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. Casa Zimbabwe is one of the 20 affordable housing communities operated by the Berkeley Student Cooperative. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)
Rising housing costs are also plaguing Santa Cruz students. At $16,055 next year, on-campus living costs will be the fourth highest after Berkeley, CSU Channel Islands and Davis, and nearly a thousand dollars more than this year.
But students do it because, in a beach town that seems to care more about attracting tourists than helping young people earn a degree, “it is really difficult to find housing off-campus,” said Judith Gutierrez, a member of the Santa Cruz Student Union Assembly. This year, more than half of Santa Cruz’s students lived on campus compared to less than a quarter of Davis students.
Sometimes, it’s required. Most of the UCs and CSUs don’t mandate that students live in the dorms but at San Jose State, freshmen from more than 30 miles away have to live on campus as part of an attempt to boost retention and graduation rates. Studies show that students who live on campus are more engaged in campus life and do better in school. At San Jose State, that will cost more than $15,500 next year.
Hoping to ease the impact, lawmakers in Sacramento introduced a budget proposal in March to cover more living costs for the state’s college students.
“Research shows more and more that students are graduating with all this debt not because of high tuition,” said Assemblyman McCarty, one of the key backers of the plan. “The reality is these huge debt loads are driven by non-tuition costs.”
Universities are under intense pressure to hold the line on tuition hikes, and the tuition increases set to hit both University of California and California State University students this fall have been widely debated. But room-and-board costs receive far less scrutiny.
Yet in the last 10 years, housing costs at UC campuses have jumped some 30 percent, making it increasingly difficult for some low-income students to earn a degree. “It’s impacting students’ and families’ ability to pay for college,” said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, who has backed several proposals in Sacramento recently aimed at helping students pay not only for tuition, but housing and dining costs, during college.
One of the most puzzling things about housing costs is how some universities have become so out-of-sync compared to the local market. UC Merced, the system’s least popular school, has the biggest gap between on-campus and off-campus living costs: nearly $8,000. It costs nearly twice as much to live on campus as it does to rent an apartment nearby.
UC Merced, opened in 2005, is among the more expensive of the UC schools when it comes to on-campus housing. (Courtesy of UC Merced)
While UC tuition is the same across the system, each campus sets its own prices for everything else from housing to printing costs, which means that a UC diploma can have a variety of price tags.
Officials at UC Merced say that as the school has grown, it’s had to add new buildings and services for students living on campus. “So while the off-campus market fluctuates based on the local real estate market, on-campus rates are driven more by the cost to maintain and expand the programs offered to support our students,” said Brenda Ortiz, a spokeswoman for the campus.
Colleges also calculate average room-and-board costs slightly differently, and students can choose from several living and dining plans.
Still the numbers underscore a persistent and growing problem: Unpredictable and rising living expenses are pricing some students out of higher education.
Systemwide, the average cost of living on campus next year will be $15,396, up about 6 percent from $14,520 this year, according to preliminary figures.
Berkeley’s on-campus living costs are set to be higher than any of other four-year public university in the state: $17,549, up more than $1,000 from $16,389.
Zach Gamlieli, Berkeley Student Cooperative President, left, talks with Tom Edmondson, a former co-op resident, in a double room at Casa Zimbabwe in Berkeley, Calif. on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. Casa Zimbabwe is one of the 20 affordable housing communities operated by the Berkeley Student Cooperative. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)
Rising housing costs are also plaguing Santa Cruz students. At $16,055 next year, on-campus living costs will be the fourth highest after Berkeley, CSU Channel Islands and Davis, and nearly a thousand dollars more than this year.
But students do it because, in a beach town that seems to care more about attracting tourists than helping young people earn a degree, “it is really difficult to find housing off-campus,” said Judith Gutierrez, a member of the Santa Cruz Student Union Assembly. This year, more than half of Santa Cruz’s students lived on campus compared to less than a quarter of Davis students.
Sometimes, it’s required. Most of the UCs and CSUs don’t mandate that students live in the dorms but at San Jose State, freshmen from more than 30 miles away have to live on campus as part of an attempt to boost retention and graduation rates. Studies show that students who live on campus are more engaged in campus life and do better in school. At San Jose State, that will cost more than $15,500 next year.
Hoping to ease the impact, lawmakers in Sacramento introduced a budget proposal in March to cover more living costs for the state’s college students.
“Research shows more and more that students are graduating with all this debt not because of high tuition,” said Assemblyman McCarty, one of the key backers of the plan. “The reality is these huge debt loads are driven by non-tuition costs.”
Zach Gamlieli is one semester from a Cal diploma. But if it weren’t for Casa Zimbabwe, the off-campus student cooperative where he pays about $7,000 to live, the Los Angeles native would have a much different story. “It’s kept me in school,” he said. “I was probably going to have to leave school and go back to work.”
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Rebecca Covarrubias, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, didn’t plan on being a professor. She wasn’t even sure she’d attend college. Her Phoenix-area family was tight-knit and supportive, but no one at home had attended college before her, and Covarrubias was mostly focused on making money after high school. Yet she applied to the University of Arizona because her friends were doing it, got a full scholarship based on her academic record and decided to take the opportunity.
Once Covarrubias got to campus, she wasn’t sure how to “do” college, either. She didn’t attend office hours or attempt to connect with professors because she didn’t know that was important.
She learned, of course. But years later, Covarrubias is trying to help make college a little easier for first-generation students as the Santa Cruz campus faculty lead on the University of California’s systemwide First-Gen Faculty campaign.
The initiative, which encourages instructors on campus to identify themselves via T-shirts, buttons and other means as the first in their families to graduate from a four-year institution, starts next week during Santa Cruz's Student Success Week. Fifty-four professors have signed on so far, along with dozens other faculty supporters.
Systemwide, some 800 faculty participants are expected to wear First-Gen Faculty shirts and share their experiences with their students across nine undergraduate campuses during the first week of classes this fall.
Janet Napolitano, system president, said in a statement that by training faculty members to connect with undergraduates “unfamiliar with college culture -- and ensuring that these faculty are highly visible on across UC’s campuses -- UC aims to connect first-generation students with the tools necessary for academic success, to foster a sense of belonging and ownership among this critical student population, and to ensure that UC continues to serve as an engine of economic mobility for our diverse population of undergraduates.”
At Santa Cruz, Covarrubias said, “We’re already having students contact us, thanking us for creating something like that -- for being so transparent. It’s basic but it’s super meaningful and impactful. When students feel less intimidated, the more we can bridge those divides that might exist.”
First-Gen Faculty is mostly a visibility campaign, for now. The idea is that first-generation students can seek out professors with similar experiences as role models or mentors. Faculty members can share advice and alert students to essential campus services. Covarrubias expects that the campaign will evolve into lunch meetings for first-generation students and faculty members, so that they can meet outside the classroom, as well. She’s also helping to organize faculty training on first-generation issues for later this summer. Individual campuses will share best practices with each other, as faculty and staff education on issues central to first-generation students is part of the systemwide initiative.
Another long-term program goal is to move conversations about first-generation students beyond just their deficits.
“These students are not just lacking something, but in so many cases come with additional strengths,” Covarrubias said. Sometimes they’re parents who are managing households themselves, or students who are helping their own parents or caregivers with child care, budgeting, translation and supplemental income, she added.
Reframing the conversation also means recognizing what a successful student looks like. Many professors tend to consider highly confident, talkative, individualistic pupils as engaged, Covarrubias said, but engagement comes in different forms, shaped both by culture and personal experience.
Martin Berger, vice president for academic affairs at Santa Cruz, said that focusing on first-generation students “is one of the most important things that the U.S. should be doing in the 21st century.”
To “unlock the full potential of the country, you need to do more than educate the same elite population generation after generation,” he added. “Doing so limits our ability to innovate and problem solve. The more heterogeneous our approach, the more creative our solutions.”
Some 42 percent of University of California System students are the first in their families to attend a four-year college or university.
Karen Kelsky, an academic career consultant and moderator of the "Professor Is In" blog, said she'd never heard of a program like California's and approved of the concept, in that it "would help first-gen faculty and graduate students as well. In my work I constantly talk to and hear from first-gen Ph.D. students who struggle to understand the unspoken codes of the academy."
Once Covarrubias got to campus, she wasn’t sure how to “do” college, either. She didn’t attend office hours or attempt to connect with professors because she didn’t know that was important.
She learned, of course. But years later, Covarrubias is trying to help make college a little easier for first-generation students as the Santa Cruz campus faculty lead on the University of California’s systemwide First-Gen Faculty campaign.
The initiative, which encourages instructors on campus to identify themselves via T-shirts, buttons and other means as the first in their families to graduate from a four-year institution, starts next week during Santa Cruz's Student Success Week. Fifty-four professors have signed on so far, along with dozens other faculty supporters.
Systemwide, some 800 faculty participants are expected to wear First-Gen Faculty shirts and share their experiences with their students across nine undergraduate campuses during the first week of classes this fall.
Janet Napolitano, system president, said in a statement that by training faculty members to connect with undergraduates “unfamiliar with college culture -- and ensuring that these faculty are highly visible on across UC’s campuses -- UC aims to connect first-generation students with the tools necessary for academic success, to foster a sense of belonging and ownership among this critical student population, and to ensure that UC continues to serve as an engine of economic mobility for our diverse population of undergraduates.”
At Santa Cruz, Covarrubias said, “We’re already having students contact us, thanking us for creating something like that -- for being so transparent. It’s basic but it’s super meaningful and impactful. When students feel less intimidated, the more we can bridge those divides that might exist.”
First-Gen Faculty is mostly a visibility campaign, for now. The idea is that first-generation students can seek out professors with similar experiences as role models or mentors. Faculty members can share advice and alert students to essential campus services. Covarrubias expects that the campaign will evolve into lunch meetings for first-generation students and faculty members, so that they can meet outside the classroom, as well. She’s also helping to organize faculty training on first-generation issues for later this summer. Individual campuses will share best practices with each other, as faculty and staff education on issues central to first-generation students is part of the systemwide initiative.
Another long-term program goal is to move conversations about first-generation students beyond just their deficits.
“These students are not just lacking something, but in so many cases come with additional strengths,” Covarrubias said. Sometimes they’re parents who are managing households themselves, or students who are helping their own parents or caregivers with child care, budgeting, translation and supplemental income, she added.
Reframing the conversation also means recognizing what a successful student looks like. Many professors tend to consider highly confident, talkative, individualistic pupils as engaged, Covarrubias said, but engagement comes in different forms, shaped both by culture and personal experience.
Martin Berger, vice president for academic affairs at Santa Cruz, said that focusing on first-generation students “is one of the most important things that the U.S. should be doing in the 21st century.”
To “unlock the full potential of the country, you need to do more than educate the same elite population generation after generation,” he added. “Doing so limits our ability to innovate and problem solve. The more heterogeneous our approach, the more creative our solutions.”
Some 42 percent of University of California System students are the first in their families to attend a four-year college or university.
Karen Kelsky, an academic career consultant and moderator of the "Professor Is In" blog, said she'd never heard of a program like California's and approved of the concept, in that it "would help first-gen faculty and graduate students as well. In my work I constantly talk to and hear from first-gen Ph.D. students who struggle to understand the unspoken codes of the academy."
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Enrollment of non-California students at UC Santa Barbara is already below Board of Regents' new 18-percent limit
With 12 percent of its students from outside of California, UC Santa Barbara doesn’t consider the newly mandated 18-percent out-of-state enrollment cap to be an issue.
Heeding pressure from state officials and many Californians, the University of California has agreed to cap its enrollment of out-of-state students beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, a move UC Santa Barbara says will not be an issue for the campus.
Many UC System campus officials say enrolling students from outside California and the United States increases diversity and boosts revenue with those students’ extra $27,000 in tuition.
On the other side, a recent audit concluded that the gradually increasing acceptance of out-of-state students squeezes out Californians.
Last Thursday, the Board of Regents approved the very first such cap for undergraduates, with the UCs at Santa Barbara, Davis, Merced, Riverside and Santa Cruz limited to 18 percent non-Californians.
Berkeley, Irvine, UCLA and San Diego — already above that threshold — are capped at their respective out-of-state enrollments for the 2017-2018 year.
Across the nine campuses, the average out-of-state rate is 16.5 percent. This past fall, the University of California enrolled 7,500 more undergraduates than the previous fall.
According to UCSB, 88 percent of its more than 20,000 undergrads are from California.
“It’s not an issue for us at all,” UCSB spokeswoman Andrea Estrada told Noozhawk. With its out-of-state rate still 6 percent below the new ceiling, she said the campus won’t be affected, and is focused on recruiting California students.
Per its 2010 Long Range Development Plan, the university is working on a 1-percent enrollment increase each year to 2025, when it plans to have a maximum of 25,000 students. UCSB says that growth rate resembles that of the Santa Barbara area.
To accommodate all the new Gauchos, UCSB has been feverishly constructing new dorms and apartments along Storke Road and the western end of El Colegio Road. It has also bought up large apartment complexes in neighboring Isla Vista.
In March, the regents delayed voting on a systemwide cap of 20 percent. That same month, a state audit concluded that the number of non-Californians the UC system was enrolling hurt state residents, squeezing them out of the state’s top tier of public higher education.
Data from the audit showed that since 2011, California applicants and admittance began to flatten out, while the number of prospective and admitted out-of-state students grew. Earlier this year, regents also approved the first tuition hike in six years: a 2.5-percent increase set to take effect the coming school year. The enrollment and tuition actions come amid heightened scrutiny of the university system. Another recent audit found that the UC Office of the President did not disclose a $175 million surplus and paid unusually high salaries.
As enrollment at Santa Barbara’s UC grows, that of its community college has contracted.
Santa Barbara City College, notable for its high number of out-of-area students, cannot set a limit on the number of students from other states, but does charge them higher fees. Its board has set a 1,500-student cap on international enrollees, which it reviews annually. The college has witnessed its student body shrink some over the last several years, to 13,165 last fall from 16,180 in 2009.
In-district students — those from Carpinteria to the Gaviota coast — have dropped 16.4 percent in that time, while the number of out-of-district Californians has decreased 15.8 percent. Out-of-state and international enrollment have increased roughly by those margins since 2009.
SBCC spokeswoman Luz Reyes-Martin said the college doesn’t know exactly why it’s experiencing the decline, but suspects it’s a combination of SBCC’s geographic isolation, the area’s high cost of living and low rental housing vacancy rate, and more spots opening up in the UC and Cal State University systems.
Reyes-Martin said the college has an “excellent ‘capture rate’” of local high school students, and that it’s heard from area high schools that their own enrollment is flat or declining slightly.
Local students make up about 46 percent of SBCC’s headcount, according to the college. Coupled with all other California students, that number jumps to 87 percent.
“Although our enrollment has declined, we are not attempting to increase our enrollment,” she told Noozhawk in an email.
“We are focused on stabilizing the decline and evaluating our course offerings to meet the needs of local students.”
With 12 percent of its students from outside of California, UC Santa Barbara doesn’t consider the newly mandated 18-percent out-of-state enrollment cap to be an issue.
Heeding pressure from state officials and many Californians, the University of California has agreed to cap its enrollment of out-of-state students beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, a move UC Santa Barbara says will not be an issue for the campus.
Many UC System campus officials say enrolling students from outside California and the United States increases diversity and boosts revenue with those students’ extra $27,000 in tuition.
On the other side, a recent audit concluded that the gradually increasing acceptance of out-of-state students squeezes out Californians.
Last Thursday, the Board of Regents approved the very first such cap for undergraduates, with the UCs at Santa Barbara, Davis, Merced, Riverside and Santa Cruz limited to 18 percent non-Californians.
Berkeley, Irvine, UCLA and San Diego — already above that threshold — are capped at their respective out-of-state enrollments for the 2017-2018 year.
Across the nine campuses, the average out-of-state rate is 16.5 percent. This past fall, the University of California enrolled 7,500 more undergraduates than the previous fall.
According to UCSB, 88 percent of its more than 20,000 undergrads are from California.
“It’s not an issue for us at all,” UCSB spokeswoman Andrea Estrada told Noozhawk. With its out-of-state rate still 6 percent below the new ceiling, she said the campus won’t be affected, and is focused on recruiting California students.
Per its 2010 Long Range Development Plan, the university is working on a 1-percent enrollment increase each year to 2025, when it plans to have a maximum of 25,000 students. UCSB says that growth rate resembles that of the Santa Barbara area.
To accommodate all the new Gauchos, UCSB has been feverishly constructing new dorms and apartments along Storke Road and the western end of El Colegio Road. It has also bought up large apartment complexes in neighboring Isla Vista.
In March, the regents delayed voting on a systemwide cap of 20 percent. That same month, a state audit concluded that the number of non-Californians the UC system was enrolling hurt state residents, squeezing them out of the state’s top tier of public higher education.
Data from the audit showed that since 2011, California applicants and admittance began to flatten out, while the number of prospective and admitted out-of-state students grew. Earlier this year, regents also approved the first tuition hike in six years: a 2.5-percent increase set to take effect the coming school year. The enrollment and tuition actions come amid heightened scrutiny of the university system. Another recent audit found that the UC Office of the President did not disclose a $175 million surplus and paid unusually high salaries.
As enrollment at Santa Barbara’s UC grows, that of its community college has contracted.
Santa Barbara City College, notable for its high number of out-of-area students, cannot set a limit on the number of students from other states, but does charge them higher fees. Its board has set a 1,500-student cap on international enrollees, which it reviews annually. The college has witnessed its student body shrink some over the last several years, to 13,165 last fall from 16,180 in 2009.
In-district students — those from Carpinteria to the Gaviota coast — have dropped 16.4 percent in that time, while the number of out-of-district Californians has decreased 15.8 percent. Out-of-state and international enrollment have increased roughly by those margins since 2009.
SBCC spokeswoman Luz Reyes-Martin said the college doesn’t know exactly why it’s experiencing the decline, but suspects it’s a combination of SBCC’s geographic isolation, the area’s high cost of living and low rental housing vacancy rate, and more spots opening up in the UC and Cal State University systems.
Reyes-Martin said the college has an “excellent ‘capture rate’” of local high school students, and that it’s heard from area high schools that their own enrollment is flat or declining slightly.
Local students make up about 46 percent of SBCC’s headcount, according to the college. Coupled with all other California students, that number jumps to 87 percent.
“Although our enrollment has declined, we are not attempting to increase our enrollment,” she told Noozhawk in an email.
“We are focused on stabilizing the decline and evaluating our course offerings to meet the needs of local students.”
- Published on
The University of California Board of Regents approved a policy on nonresident undergraduate enrollment last week which will reserve more spots for California students at nine campuses.
The first of its kind policy at UC schools will cap nonresident enrollment at 18 percent at five campuses where 15 percent or fewer of the undergraduates were out-of-state or international students fall 2016.
Enrollment will be capped at 2017-18 levels at Berkeley, Irvine, Los Angeles and San Diego, where 19 percent or more of the undergrad population were from outside of California. Systemwide, almost 17 percent of undergraduates were not California residents.
UCSD had almost 6,500 nonresident undergraduates according to fall 2016 enrollment numbers, almost a quarter of all undergrads. Almost 80 percent were international students, the largest population in the UC system. Since 2012, out-of-state and international students at UCSD have made up 12 percent or more of the undergrad population.
The first of its kind policy at UC schools will cap nonresident enrollment at 18 percent at five campuses where 15 percent or fewer of the undergraduates were out-of-state or international students fall 2016.
Enrollment will be capped at 2017-18 levels at Berkeley, Irvine, Los Angeles and San Diego, where 19 percent or more of the undergrad population were from outside of California. Systemwide, almost 17 percent of undergraduates were not California residents.
UCSD had almost 6,500 nonresident undergraduates according to fall 2016 enrollment numbers, almost a quarter of all undergrads. Almost 80 percent were international students, the largest population in the UC system. Since 2012, out-of-state and international students at UCSD have made up 12 percent or more of the undergrad population.
UCSD had almost 6,500 nonresident undergraduates according to fall 2016 enrollment numbers, almost a quarter of all undergrads. Almost 80 percent were international students, the largest population in the UC system. Since 2012, out-of-state and international students at UCSD have made up 12 percent or more of the undergrad population.
The newly adopted policy means the system will receive $18.5 million from the state to support the enrollment of an additional 2,500 California undergraduates.
“Our new nonresident enrollment policy strikes the right balance between UC’s continued commitment to putting California students first and the significant benefits that out-of-state and international students provide the university,” said UC President Janet Napolitano.
The newly adopted policy means the system will receive $18.5 million from the state to support the enrollment of an additional 2,500 California undergraduates.
“Our new nonresident enrollment policy strikes the right balance between UC’s continued commitment to putting California students first and the significant benefits that out-of-state and international students provide the university,” said UC President Janet Napolitano.
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UC Office of the President
Thursday, May 18, 2017
The University of California Board of Regents today (May 18) approved a policy on nonresident undergraduate enrollment that reaffirms UC’s historic commitment to California residents by limiting the proportion of out-of-state and international students at its nine undergraduate campuses.
Under the policy, the first of its kind at UC, nonresident enrollment will be capped at 18 percent at five UC campuses. At the other four campuses where the proportion of nonresidents exceeds 18 percent — UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC San Diego — nonresident enrollment will be capped at the proportion that each campus enrolls in the 2017–18 academic year.
“Our new nonresident enrollment policy strikes the right balance between UC’s continued commitment to putting California students first and the significant benefits that out-of-state and international students provide the university,” said UC President Janet Napolitano. “This policy represents a broad consensus achieved after extensive consultation with regents, legislators and other stakeholders.”
The state’s Budget Act of 2016 called for the UC Board of Regents to adopt a policy limiting the number of undergraduate nonresidents as a condition for receiving $18.5 million to support the enrollment of an additional 2,500 California resident undergraduates in the upcoming academic year.
UC is not only on track to enroll an additional 2,500 Californians this fall, but through an agreement with the state, it enrolled more than 7,400 additional California residents in fall 2016, the largest year-to-year jump in California resident enrollment since the end of World War II.
UC’s strong focus on serving in-state undergraduates is unique among many top-ranked public institutions. UC nonresident undergraduate students currently make up about 16.5 percent of total undergraduates systemwide, compared with an average of 27.9 percent for the public institutions in the Association of American Universities (AAU). In fact, all UC campuses enroll less than one-quarter of their undergraduates from outside California — well below the average proportion of nonresident enrollment for public AAU institutions.
“True to the university’s mission, our nonresident enrollment policy underscores our unwavering commitment to the students of the state under the California Master Plan for Higher Education by offering a place on at least one of our campuses to every California applicant who meets UC’s requirements for admission,” Napolitano said. “It also reaffirms our pledge that nonresident students will be enrolled only in addition to, and never in place of, Californians.”
The newly adopted policy also calls for the UC Board of Regents to review the nonresident policy in at least four years. Periodic review of the policy will allow the regents to assess its efficacy in maintaining and enhancing the educational experience and access of California students.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
The University of California Board of Regents today (May 18) approved a policy on nonresident undergraduate enrollment that reaffirms UC’s historic commitment to California residents by limiting the proportion of out-of-state and international students at its nine undergraduate campuses.
Under the policy, the first of its kind at UC, nonresident enrollment will be capped at 18 percent at five UC campuses. At the other four campuses where the proportion of nonresidents exceeds 18 percent — UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC San Diego — nonresident enrollment will be capped at the proportion that each campus enrolls in the 2017–18 academic year.
“Our new nonresident enrollment policy strikes the right balance between UC’s continued commitment to putting California students first and the significant benefits that out-of-state and international students provide the university,” said UC President Janet Napolitano. “This policy represents a broad consensus achieved after extensive consultation with regents, legislators and other stakeholders.”
The state’s Budget Act of 2016 called for the UC Board of Regents to adopt a policy limiting the number of undergraduate nonresidents as a condition for receiving $18.5 million to support the enrollment of an additional 2,500 California resident undergraduates in the upcoming academic year.
UC is not only on track to enroll an additional 2,500 Californians this fall, but through an agreement with the state, it enrolled more than 7,400 additional California residents in fall 2016, the largest year-to-year jump in California resident enrollment since the end of World War II.
UC’s strong focus on serving in-state undergraduates is unique among many top-ranked public institutions. UC nonresident undergraduate students currently make up about 16.5 percent of total undergraduates systemwide, compared with an average of 27.9 percent for the public institutions in the Association of American Universities (AAU). In fact, all UC campuses enroll less than one-quarter of their undergraduates from outside California — well below the average proportion of nonresident enrollment for public AAU institutions.
“True to the university’s mission, our nonresident enrollment policy underscores our unwavering commitment to the students of the state under the California Master Plan for Higher Education by offering a place on at least one of our campuses to every California applicant who meets UC’s requirements for admission,” Napolitano said. “It also reaffirms our pledge that nonresident students will be enrolled only in addition to, and never in place of, Californians.”
The newly adopted policy also calls for the UC Board of Regents to review the nonresident policy in at least four years. Periodic review of the policy will allow the regents to assess its efficacy in maintaining and enhancing the educational experience and access of California students.
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If you don't meet UC's minimum requirements, you may be considered for admission to UC if you earn high scores on the ACT with Writing or SAT and two SAT Subject Tests.
In general, this method of consideration is designed for students who have been unable to meet the regular subject requirements and/or earn a high school diploma because of unique circumstances, such as non-traditional education or long-term illness.
To be considered, you must take either the ACT with Writing or the SAT, as well as two SAT Subject Tests.
You must earn a minimum UC Score total — calculated according to the instructions below — of 410 (425 for nonresidents). In addition, you must achieve a minimum UC score of 63 on each component of the exams.
You may not use a SAT Subject Test to meet these requirements if they have completed a transferable college course with a grade of C or better in that subject.
How to convert your test scores to UC Scores:
If you took the SAT Reasoning Test (prior to March 2016):
If you took the SAT with Essay exam (starting March 2016)
If you took the ACT Plus Writing:
In general, this method of consideration is designed for students who have been unable to meet the regular subject requirements and/or earn a high school diploma because of unique circumstances, such as non-traditional education or long-term illness.
To be considered, you must take either the ACT with Writing or the SAT, as well as two SAT Subject Tests.
You must earn a minimum UC Score total — calculated according to the instructions below — of 410 (425 for nonresidents). In addition, you must achieve a minimum UC score of 63 on each component of the exams.
You may not use a SAT Subject Test to meet these requirements if they have completed a transferable college course with a grade of C or better in that subject.
How to convert your test scores to UC Scores:
If you took the SAT Reasoning Test (prior to March 2016):
- Convert the highest scores in critical reading, math and writing from a single sitting and the two highest SAT Subject Tests from different subject areas to equivalent UC Scores (see the SAT test score translation table).
- Add all five UC Scores to produce your UC Score total. For example: critical reading + math + writing + Subject Test 1 + Subject Test 2 = UC Score total.
If you took the SAT with Essay exam (starting March 2016)
- Using scores from a single sitting, convert the new reading, math, and writing & language scores to the old SAT scores using the tables listed below. Get the equivalent UC Scores for the three converted scores using the SAT test score translation table.
- Convert the two highest SAT Subject Tests from different subject areas to equivalent UC Scores using the SAT test score translation table.
- Add all five UC Scores to produce your UC Score total.
If you took the ACT Plus Writing:
- Convert the highest math, reading, science and combined English/writing or ELA score from a single sitting to equivalent UC Scores (see the translation table below).
- Multiply the sum of the converted math, reading and science scores by two-thirds, then add the converted English/writing or ELA score.
- Add this subtotal to your two highest SAT Subject Test scores from two different subject areas, which are also converted to equivalent UC Scores. For example: (math + reading + science) x 0.667 + English/writing + Subject Test 1 + Subject Test 2) = UC Score total.
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While SAT Subject Tests are not required, some campuses recommend that freshman applicants interested in competitive majors take the tests to demonstrate subject proficiency.
Recommendations for fall 2017 applicants
Remember, these are recommendations, not mandates. You will not be penalized for failing to take the SAT Subject Tests. On the other hand, submission of these test scores (just like submission of AP and/or IB scores) may add positively to the review of your application.
Berkeley
College of Chemistry and College of Engineering: Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant's intended major.
Davis
Not recommended for any area.
Irvine
Claire Trevor School of the Arts: recommends that freshman applicants take any SAT Subject Tests that will demonstrate the student’s strengths.
Henry Samueli School of Engineering (including the joint Computer Science and Engineering major): Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant's intended major.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences: Biology M, Chemistry, and/or Math Level 2.
School of Physical Sciences: Math Level 2.
Program in Public Health Sciences: Biology E, Biology M, and/or Chemistry.
Program in Public Health Policy: Biology E, Biology M, and/or World History.
Los Angeles
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science: Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant's intended major.
Merced
No recommendation at this time.
Riverside
College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Bourns College of Engineering: Math 2 and Chemistry or Physics, for all majors
San Diego
Jacobs School of Engineering and biological or physical sciences majors: Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant’s intended major.
Santa Barbara
College of Engineering: Math Level 2
College of Creative Studies:
Santa Cruz
Not recommended for any area.
Recommendations for fall 2017 applicants
Remember, these are recommendations, not mandates. You will not be penalized for failing to take the SAT Subject Tests. On the other hand, submission of these test scores (just like submission of AP and/or IB scores) may add positively to the review of your application.
Berkeley
College of Chemistry and College of Engineering: Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant's intended major.
Davis
Not recommended for any area.
Irvine
Claire Trevor School of the Arts: recommends that freshman applicants take any SAT Subject Tests that will demonstrate the student’s strengths.
Henry Samueli School of Engineering (including the joint Computer Science and Engineering major): Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant's intended major.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences: Biology M, Chemistry, and/or Math Level 2.
School of Physical Sciences: Math Level 2.
Program in Public Health Sciences: Biology E, Biology M, and/or Chemistry.
Program in Public Health Policy: Biology E, Biology M, and/or World History.
Los Angeles
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science: Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant's intended major.
Merced
No recommendation at this time.
Riverside
College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Bourns College of Engineering: Math 2 and Chemistry or Physics, for all majors
San Diego
Jacobs School of Engineering and biological or physical sciences majors: Math Level 2 and a science test (Biology E/M, Chemistry, or Physics) closely related to the applicant’s intended major.
Santa Barbara
College of Engineering: Math Level 2
College of Creative Studies:
- Math Level 2 for math majors
- Math Level 2 and Physics for physics majors
- Biology for biology majors
- Chemistry for biochemistry and chemistry majors
- Math Level 2 for computing majors
Santa Cruz
Not recommended for any area.
Submission deadline
Freshman applicants for fall 2017 must arrange to have official score reports sent to us by December 2016. If you plan to take an exam December, indicate the planned test date on your admission application.
And don't worry — if you report your scores to one campus, they will be shared with every campus to which you've applied.
Freshman applicants for fall 2017 must arrange to have official score reports sent to us by December 2016. If you plan to take an exam December, indicate the planned test date on your admission application.
And don't worry — if you report your scores to one campus, they will be shared with every campus to which you've applied.