The number of in-state students admitted to the Fall 2008
class of the UC system increased for the fourth straight year to 60,008,
representing a 4.7-percent hike over last year’s admissions and the largest
class to date, according to a report released this week by the UC Office of the
President. At UCSD, Fall Quarter freshmen admissions among in-state applicants
rose by 1.5 percent to 16,992 students.
Additionally, the number of black and Chicano/Latino
resident students admitted systemwide for the fall increased by 11.3 percent
and 16 percent, leading to 2,305 and 12,432 admitted students from each
underrepresented group, respectively.
“We’re pleased there was an increase in the admissions of
Chicano, Latino and African-American students,” said UCOP spokesman Ricardo
Vázquez. “That said, [those] students continue to be underrepresented at the
university. It’s still not reflective of the state itself.”
UCSD posted gains similar to the systemwide statistics in
Chicano and Latino admissions with an 11.5-percent increase to 2,525 students.
However, campus admissions saw a dip in black admits for the first time since
2004, accepting 307 black in-state students for fall 2008, down 12.3 percent
from last year’s 350, according to the report.
“We are very disappointed,” Assistant Vice Chancellor of
Admissions and Enrollment Services Mae Brown said of the decrease in black
admitted students. “Our primary goal at this point is to continue to work hard
to encourage students to accept our offers of admission.”
Brown said that the “slight decline” in the number of black
students admitted to UCSD could be caused in part by the higher level of
selectiveness exercised by the campus in the face of an increasingly large
applicant pool.
“We certainly will do a lot of analysis to see where we saw
decreases in the admission of African-American students,” she said.
UCSD’s acceptance rate among in-state freshmen applicants
fell from 41.1 percent to 40.2 percent this year, a trend that Brown said she
expects will continue as strong academic programs and faculty bolster UCSD’s
reputation.
The increase in admissions to the UC system comes at a time
when its funding outlook is uncertain. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2008-09
budget proposal fell $417 million short of what the UC Board of Regents
requested to support the 10-campus system for the next fiscal year, but the system
has continued “to offer a space to every California resident applicant who is
UC-eligible,” according to the report.
“The cuts proposed by the governor are potentially
devastating,” said Vázquez, adding that students would encounter reduced
services and larger class sizes as a result. The proposed cuts would also
impact the university’s ability to live up to its “historical promise” of
offering admission to every qualified
resident.
“Enrolling additional students without additional funding is
not sustainable in the long run, so it clearly will … bring pressure on next
year’s admissions,” he said.
Confronted with both increasing enrollment and potentially
decreasing state funds, Vázquez said that “one thing the university will not do
is lower our standards.”
Brown echoed Vázquez’s concern. “If there’s not a change [in
the proposed budget] then the campuses and the system will have to look very
carefully at enrollment planning,” she said.
Brown also speculated that this year’s economic downturn could
persuade more admitted students to enroll at selective public institutions like
UCSD instead of more expensive private universities.
A larger-than-expected level of new student enrollment
throughout the UC system could add to the system’s financial difficulties of
the system, which experienced overenrollment at some campuses last fall.
