On July 16, the University of California Board of Regents unanimously approved an increase to UC San Diego’s enrollment, with a new cap of 56,000 students by 2040. The expansion anticipates 13,600 new students in the next 15 years.
The expansion is an amendment to the University’s Long Range Development Plan, which was first approved in 2018 to “[provide] a land use plan to guide the physical development of the [main] campus.”
The initial LRDP anticipated that the University would reach 42,400 students by 2035, with a net increase of 9,550 students by that date. This estimate was surpassed in 2023, with 43,381 students enrolled. The University reached an all-time high for enrollment at the start of the 2024-25 academic year, when 45,273 students enrolled.
With staff, students, and faculty combined, the amendment anticipates a total university population of 96,300 by 2040, a 40% increase from the original LRDP’s population estimate of 65,600 by 2035. The UCSD Guardian is seeking the current figures of staff, students, and faculty for 2025-26.
Chancellor Pradeep Khosla spoke about the need for an amendment to the LRDP at the regents meeting.
“[The amendment is] unusual,” Khosla said. “And the reason this one is unusual and happening, six or seven years after the first one, is because we have seen significant growth … in the total amount of real estate. In spite of all the bad news coming from D.C., we are growing. … We want your support for this so that we can actually move on with the plans we have for the campus.”
UCSD’s real estate holdings have grown significantly since Khosla began his tenure as chancellor.
“In the 12 years I have been [at UCSD], we have gone from 10 million square feet to 11 million square feet, and this amendment expects us going up to 36 million square feet after we kick off this project called Pepper Canyon East,” Khosla said.
The Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood and the Pepper Canyon West Living and Learning Neighborhood were completed in Fall 2024, providing 2,000 beds for undergraduate students and 1,300 single-occupancy rooms for transfer and upper-division undergraduate students, respectively. Ridge Walk North Living and Learning Neighborhood, which opened this Fall, offers 2,400 new beds for undergraduate students.
The Pepper Canyon East District will replace the current housing neighborhood of Pepper Canyon East and the adjacent Matthews Quad. The new complex will provide 6,000 beds for undergraduate students, set to be completed by Fall 2030. The proposed Pepper Canyon East District would be one of the biggest undergraduate housing complexes in the country by number of residents.
UCSD responded to The Guardian’s request for comment on how the University will act following the approval of the amendment.
“No planning decisions have been made in regard to increasing student enrollment, and we cannot predict how external factors, like funding reductions, will affect our future plans,” the statement read.
The amendment clarifies that this plan does not guarantee implementation of the figures suggested. “As with the adopted 2018 LRDP, this update is neither an enrollment plan or mandate nor an implementation plan,” the official amendment read.
The expansion comes amid massive federal and state budget cuts that fund research and day-to-day operations at the University.
