On the surface, a recent proposal by University of California officials to increase the number of out-of-state applicants seems like a quick and harmless method for raising revenue. Not only would half of each student’s average $28,000 annual tuition be used as profit for the system, but campuses, according UC Regent Judith Hopkinson, would also benefit from more ‘geographically diverse’ student bodies.
But as cash-strapped officials consider recruiting well-off students to solve the university’s financial woes, there’s just one tiny detail they’re forgetting: According to university statistics, our system has already enrolled 11,000 students too many. To make matters worse, the Board of Regents plans to increase resident tuition fees and cut next year’s number of admitted freshmen by 6 percent.
If the university is actively limiting California residents’ access to their own public education, how can it justify a proposal to offer more spots to out-of-state-applicants? Even if the state isn’t technically subsidizing their tuition, that doesn’t change the fact that, once admitted, these students will be filling already-crammed classrooms and utilizing scant student resources. After all, no matter where a student’s tuition money comes from, one more lecture hall seat for an out-of-stater is one fewer for a California resident.
Even disregarding the limited access this decision might cause for state residents, looking for private financial support contradicts the university’s commitment to stand idependently as a public institution. According to UC system spokesman Ricardo Vazquez, there are no official requirements regarding out-of-state enrollee percentages. So as officials face more and more pressure to find quick-fix financial solutions, what’s not to stop them from increasing the current 6 percent of nonresident undergraduates to something like University of Michigan’s 30 percent nonresident population? Why not lose the public-access facade all together and charge a couple thousand dollars more in tuition? If university officials don’t keep California residents’ best interests in mind, the university’s goal to provide higher education to all of the state’s qualified applicants will be at the mercy of a collection of geographically diverse private pocketbooks.