SAN FRANCISCO ― University of California President Janet Napolitano is asking the system’s governing board for permission to enroll 5,000 more California residents next fall at the nine campuses that serve undergraduates.
The request, made public Monday in background materials for an upcoming Board of Regents meeting, is good news for high school seniors and community college students whose UC applications for fall 2016 are due at the end of the month.
If approved by the regents, the additional slots for freshmen and transfer students from within California would increase new in-state enrollment by 10 percent over this year, the biggest bump in at least a decade.
“What we want to do is expand access for California undergraduates,” said Napolitano, who also is proposing another 2,500 new in-state seats for fall 2017 and fall 2018.
Out of the estimated 61,700 students who entered UC schools as first-time freshmen or upper-division transfer students this fall, a little more than 49,000 were from California, preliminary system data show.
Lawmakers have pressured the university to make room for more Californians amid concerns that campuses were admitting more higher-paying students from other states and abroad to boost their budgets.
The state budget approved in June earmarked an extra $25 million for the University of California if the system registered 5,000 more in-state students by the 2016-17 academic year.
