<p>via Ms. Sun</p>
<p>This information is for both freshman and transfer applicants (except where noted). Those of you who are not yet applying, you may find some interesting information as well (like budget issues and general academic preparation).</p>
<p>The corresponding PowerPoint presentations are at High school program Plenary Address <a href=“the%20one%20I%20attended%20was%20at%20UCSD”>PPT</a> and Community college program Plenary Address <a href=“the%20one%20I%20attended%20was%20at%20UCR”>PPT</a>. A note about the community college presentation, the posted PowerPoint doesn’t match the one used at the conference, so I’m not sure if that will be updated; if I reference any slide number, just know that it may be a little off because the UC system may decide to update the PowerPoint file later.</p>
<p>Budget Issues</p>
<p>What can I say, the UCs like to start with a downer. Last year the system took a $650 million hit. If I remember correctly, I read somewhere that there is an additional $500 million cuts coming this year (next academic year, 2012-2013) and that may not be the end of it. What you need to know:
The UCs plan to maintain enrollment numbers for Fall 2012 (no more enrollment reductions, yay!).</p>
<p>The UCs are committed to provide core/essential courses for students to achieve on-time graduation. You’ll see some cuts and consolidations in courses that are not popular or essential for graduation; but each campus is promising to add additional core courses needed for graduation.</p>
<p>Where you will see cuts is in staffing and some student services. Many offices will have reduced hours and some transactions/interactions will be moved online to streamline the process.</p>
<p>The UCs are also trying to offset the cuts with further tuition/fee increases (which offset about 25% of the cuts) and an increase in application fees (+$10, the first increase since 2006).</p>
<p>Non-resident enrollment - This is the topic that gets everyone upset, so I’m doing a detailed explanation here. Hang in there, it’s pretty long and tedious.</p>
<p>The UCs have a set enrollment capacity depending on faculty/staff availability, expansion plans, etc. The State of California funds a certain number of California students to pursue higher education each year depending on the budget. The two numbers don’t always coincide (and lately the gap is getting bigger).</p>
<p>Here’s a hypothetical (by hypothetical I mean completely made-up) scenario to help you understand: let’s say the UC system can enroll 100,000 students because that is how many classrooms, faculty members, and staff it has for 2012-2012 and the State of California has allocated funding for 91,000 California students to be educated. This means that the UC system will have 9,000 empty seats after pulling in 91,000 California students. </p>
<p>Now, remember, for each California student the UC system pulls in above the 91,000, the system is paying out-of-pocket for the student to be educated; that means the rest of the student population is sharing the pain (there is less money to go around for everyone). Unfortunately the UC system is not in the business of predicting the future because as of now it is over-enrolled with California students (has been for a long while) because too many students say yes when they are accepted.</p>
<p>Brief explanation about yield - each UC campus accepts more students then it has capacity to enroll because not all accepted students will enroll. The yield, or the number of students who says yes, is predicted using data from previous years. The problem with that is when something big happens, like a recession that no one saw coming, the numbers go out the window.</p>
<p>What the UC system does to ease the pain of over-enrollment and the budget cuts is by actively recruiting OOS and international students to fill those 9,000 empty seats. These students bring in money to help fill in the hole and fund student programs that would otherwise be discontinued.</p>
<p>The UC system has determined that the OOS/international enrollment will be capped at 10% systemwide. This means that across the 9 undergraduate campuses, the total number of OOS/international students should not exceed 10% (but maybe Berkeley has 17% and Santa Cruz has 3%).</p>
<p>If you are upset about the budget cuts, and you have every right to be, direct your complaints toward Sacramento and demand that more funds be allocated to the UC system to educate California students. Being angry at the UC system is not going to solve anything. The campuses do what they need to do in order to educate the kids they have; if that means recruiting OOS and international students so they have enough money to keep going, then that is what they will do.
Fall 2011 Admission Numbers</p>
<p>The stats on the slides are self-explanatory. As I previously mentioned, the UCs are expecting to enroll similar numbers (that probably also means accepting similar numbers) of students for Fall 2012.</p>
<p>Freshman Admissions Policy Change (Fall 2012)</p>
<p>I’m just sick of talking about the policy change and it feels as though the UCs are too. I heard the usual mundane explanation (wider access to all students, blah blah blah).</p>
<p>The one alarming thing I learned is that ELC is becoming a rather amorphous process.
The individual campus guarantee will not happen this year (well, the campuses are fairly certain, but the situation may change, so maybe they are not sure … go figure). </p>
<p>Slide 17 mentioned that “Students will know their ELC status after applying for admission” and I got the additional clarification that it will happen 4 to 6 weeks after application submission; but I’m not even sure what that means. I’m guessing it’s referring to students who are not attending ELC schools but who are eligible as top 9% statewide.</p>
<p>The Merced campus representative hinted that the guaranteed acceptance of UC-eligible students may no longer be a guarantee (what complicates things is that “UC-eligible” is being redefined to top 9% of ELC school or statewide for Fall 2012). Apparently last year Merced went with a sort of invitation or opt-in process for the UC-eligible students. I didn’t push for clarification, but it sounded as though not all UC-eligible students got an invitation/opt-in. So while the UC system is promising “all eligible students will be accepted on referral,” if you are serious about attending Merced you should apply to the campus directly so you don’t get left out in the cold.
Cost of Attendance</p>
<p>The 2011-2012 estimated cost (including estimated living expenses, books/supplies, insurance, personal expenses) was $31,173 and you can expect an increase in 2012-2013. The Community college program Plenary Address [PPT] has a slide (slide 14) with “Sample UC Financing Plan” which gives you estimated financial aid and parent/student contribution for various income ranges. Looks like the “mandatory” student contribution is now at $9,400 (likely higher in 2012-2013) which is expected to be met with loans or work-study.</p>
<p>The UC system has a new initiative that provides financial assistance to middle-class families with incomes of up to $120,000.</p>
<p>The UC system has a decent website on financial aid, which you can find at [University</a> of California - Paying for UC](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/index.html). Each UC campus also offers a Financial Aid Estimator; the links to the individual campus’s financial aid estimator is at [url=<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/index.html]University</a> of California - Financial aid<a href=“click%20on%20the%20campus%20name%20in%20the%20gray%20box%20on%20the%20right”>/url</a>.</p>
<p>Miscellaneous</p>
<p>I had already heard about this but it was confirmed at the conference that the UC StatFinder project has lost funding. The project compiles admission/enrollment statistics for the UC system and publishes the data online for everyone to see. The last update was in 2009. This will make data gathering fairly difficult because the individual campuses tend to hide the data (or sometimes not make it available at all, as is the case for Berkeley). But the UC Office of the President is working on a replacement mechanism that will hopefully launch in 2012.</p>
<p>Just a side note, I was appalled to find out that the California Postsecondary Education Commission lost funding and is closing in November. The Commission offers a wealth of data online for HS -> UC/CSU and CCC -> UC/CSU matriculation rates. As a precaution I have downloaded all the CCC -> UC data in case the website is taken down. Once the Commission shuts down, I will make the data available on my website.</p>
<p>Well, I spent 6+ hours on the road in the span of two days to gather this information and I hope you found it useful. There is more to come so keep your eyes peeled.</p>
