The University of California system admitted a record 80,289 freshmen to one of its nine undergraduate campuses for this fall, including a 43 percent increase in students from outside California who would pay higher tuition rates, according to preliminary data released Monday.
Still, as the university pointed out on its website, that the admission offers to California residents increased over the previous year by just 3.6 percent -- 61,443 students. This number does not meet the "tremendous" demand for a spot at UC, the university reported. The overall admission rate for California students dropped from 69.7 percent for the fall of 2011 to 65.8 percent for the fall of 2012, according to UC.
For this fall, UC accepted 18,846 out-of-state and international students, compared to 13,144 last year, a 43 percent rise.
The UC system's undergraduate schools saw a combined record 126,455 applicants this year despite massive tuition hikes in the wake of state budget cuts.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed spending 21 percent less in 2012-13 than the state did in 2007-08, while undergraduate resident tuition has increased 84 percent, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Between 2007-08 and 2011-12, the number of nonresident students, who pay tuition above what it costs to educate them, increased by about a third.
UC was quick to point out that out-of-state students typically decline admission offers more than California residents and that the system expects to remain below its 10 percent cap on out-of-state population.
Every campus except UC Berkeley saw a rise in out-of-state and international admissions, according to the UC website. The biggest spike in non-California admits came at UC San Diego, which saw a 75 percent increase. Berkeley, on the other hand, saw a 12.5 percent decrease in non-California admits.
