Cuts Force UC to Turn Away 3,200 Students 

KIM-MAI CUTLER / The Daily Californian 1mar04

Breaking with a four-decade tradition, UC will divert 3,200 potential freshmen to community colleges this month under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts.

The students, who would have been admitted to a UC campus this year, may instead attend a community college for their first two years, free of charge. They are later guaranteed admission to a UC school in their junior year if they complete the required coursework.

Totaling 10 percent of last year’s freshman class, each campus will turn away about 200 to 425 students. UC Berkeley administrators are estimating that 300 potential freshmen will enroll under the community college plan.

In rosier economic times, UC officials had originally planned to enroll 5,000 more freshmen this year to accommodate California’s burgeoning population.

“I deeply regret that we have to curtail enrollment in a time when the number of eligible students in the state is increasing,” said Richard Black, UC Berkeley assistant vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment.

Local high school students are awaiting word from several UC campuses as acceptance and rejection letters begin rolling in this week. Some fear the plan may affect their chances of getting into their UC of choice.

“I’m sort of a middle-range candidate,” said Berkeley High School senior Peter True, who applied to several UC campuses, including UC Berkeley. “I think the caliber of UC I get into is going to be affected by this.”

The move could break 43 years of tradition outlined in the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education. Under the guidelines, UC promised the top 12.5 percent of California high school seniors a spot at one of its nine undergraduate campuses, even if it was not their university of choice.

Administrators fear the move could erode that guarantee of accessibility under the Master Plan.

But policy analysts in the Legislative Analyst’s Office, a research arm of the state Legislature, reported last month that with slight adjustments in admissions policy, UC can continue following the plan.

Both groups are awaiting a study in May from the California Postsecondary Education Commission that will determine whether UC is living up to the 12.5 percent target.

“We know that students work very hard to be able to come to the University of California,” said UC spokesperson Lavonne Luquis. “It is very distressing that we may not be able to take all of them this year.”

source: http://www.dailycal.org/particle.asp?id=14365 8mar04