With student demand up sharply, the University of California will continue to offer admission in fall 2008 to all undergraduate applicants who meet the University’s eligibility requirements. This is despite the fact that the governor’s budget proposes to cut state funding for the University in 2008-09, UC officials announced late last month.

However, the officials warned that UC cannot commit to expand its enrollments for the following 2009-10 fiscal year unless the state can provide funding at that time for the additional students enrolled in 2008-09.

UC recently announced that California undergraduate applications for fall admission are up more than 7 percent for the 2008-09 year, setting a new record for undergraduate application volume and reflecting strong increases among students traditionally underrepresented at the University. (UCSB admission officers reported a total of 55, 871 fall applicants to the campus, a 15 percent jump from the previous year.)

The decision to continue with UC’s historic practice of offering a place at one of its campuses to all students who meet its eligibility requirements, while in the interest of prospective students who have worked hard to earn a place at UC, will bring increased pressure on the rest of the University’s state-funded budget. The governor’s proposed budget for UC is $417 million below the level requested by the Regents.

In order to continue to provide student access, the University will need to look even more intensively at budget reductions in other areas as well as student fee levels. For more information on the UC budget, visit <http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/budget/>.

“With the strong increase in undergraduate applications this year, we feel it is our obligation to California to continue meeting our commitments under the Master Plan for Higher Education and expand our enrollment capacity as necessary,” said Wyatt R. Hume, UC provost and executive vice president for academic and health affairs.

“Students have worked hard to become eligible for the university, and we do not want them to worry at the eleventh hour about whether they will have a place at UC,” he said. “However, enrolling additional students without additional state funding is not sustainable.”

UC had been hoping to continue with plans in 2008-09 to increase graduate student enrollments in nursing and public health programs, given their importance to state workforce needs. However, because of the expense of operating these programs, the University will be unable to increase enrollments in those particular fields until state funding is available.

The governor’s 2008-09 state budget proposal builds in a funding increase for UC under the 2004 “compact” with UC but then applies a 10 percent reduction, the same as for most other state General Fund programs.

—Ricardo Vazquez/UCOP