SAN FRANCISCO
The University of California has accepted a record 60,008 California residents as freshmen for the coming fall despite worries that cuts in state funding could lead to overcrowded campuses and tuition increases, officials said Monday.
With more high school seniors vying and qualifying for spot at a UC school, the university admitted a little more than three-quarters of all in-state students who applied, similar to last year's in-state admissions rate of 77 percent, university officials said.
The admission offers to in-state freshmen beat last year's total of 57,318, also a record, by about 4.7 percent and represent a 43 percent increase over the fall 2000 term. Officials said upholding UC's long-held tradition of finding a space for all eligible California residents outweighed concern over the uncertain budget situation.
``This was a very difficult decision given the fact that there are not sufficient resources to fund large growth and it could have negative impact on our programs down the road,'' said Susan Wilbur, UC's director of undergraduate admissions. ``That said, I think it was the right decision because there are students who have worked hard for years to get to this point and it didn't seem right to penalize them.''
To close a projected a budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed funding the system by $400 million less than its governing board estimates it needs for the 2008-09 academic year to accommodate enrollment growth and improvements in student services. In the past, state budget cuts forced the rejection of some qualified students from the system's nine undergraduate campuses.
The number of students admitted was up for in-state freshmen of all racial backgrounds except American Indians, although the racial composition of the UC system could shift slightly next year because of bigger gains by some minority groups. Overall, the system admitted 12,432 students of Hispanic descent, 1,717 or 16 percent more than last year. Admission rose by 11 percent, or 234 freshmen, for Black students, to 2,305.
