University of California ups out-of-state admissions

The University of California system has admitted more freshmen than ever this year, but more of them are from other states and countries.

The 10-campus university, which received a record 106,186 applications this year, announced Monday that it had admitted at least 72,432 freshmen for the 2011-12 school year, including 2,300 fall applicants to UC Berkeley who were instead offered admission in the spring 2012 semester. Last year at this time, the university had admitted 68,329 freshmen.

All but two of the undergraduate campuses — Riverside and San Diego — admitted more students this year compared with 2010.

Students have until May 1 to decide whether they will attend. The university has not made final decisions for transfer applicants.

With state budget cuts threatening to limit enrollment, campuses have turned to out-of-state students to help pay the bills. California Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a $500 million cut to UC. Starting in the fall, nonresident undergraduates will pay more than $34,000 per year, compared with resident tuition of $11,124.

About 18 percent of this year's admitted freshmen were from other states or countries, up from 14 percent in 2010. At UC Berkeley, more than 31 percent were from out of state, up from about 27 percent last year, and the campus admitted 156 fewer Californians.

Among the 74 countries whose applicants were admitted to the Berkeley campus were Botswana, Denmark, Macedonia and Rwanda, according to a university statement. But the campus accepted no applicants from California's Alpine, Modoc, Sierra and Tehama counties.

Allowing more out-of-state students to attend top UC campuses at the expense of California residents is not an effective way to gain lawmakers' favor, said Patrick Callan, president of the San Jose-based National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education.

"This is not a time to auction off admissions," he said. "Not only is it not a good idea, but, in the long run, it may undermine UC's political credibility."

For the second year in a row, the university placed thousands of students on wait lists for admission to the campus of their choice. More than 16,500 applicants were placed on the lists.

UC continued its recent practice of admitting applicants not to the campus of their choice, redirecting them instead to UC Merced, which opened in 2005 and is still growing. More than 12,700 applicants were referred to Merced this year; based on past data, only about 5 percent of those students will accept the offer.

The UC system admits the top 12.5 percent of California high school graduates, based on grades, test scores and life experience. Although UC administrators say they will find a spot somewhere for every qualified California applicant, the Merced referrals make the growing out-of-state enrollment less palatable, said Steve Boilard, higher-education chief for the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

"It's a little cynical to say we're admitting all qualified California residents," he said, "when we all know a portion of those students are being redirected to a campus very few of them will attend."