I agree with all of that. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out, there are no easy answers.
Agree. For many students, housing expense is the biggest obstacle to attending UC. Some low to moderate income students choose CSUs over UC so they can live at home and save housing expenses. There also are many students who have family obligations and prefer to study from home.
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If Cal is able to manage enrollments as laid out here UC Berkeley Freshman Class of 2026 Discussion - #924 the cuts may not be too bad
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The LA Times article here : UC Berkeley will meet court-ordered enrollment cap with online, deferred admission offers
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A more direct source via e-mail from Cal : UC Berkeley Freshman Class of 2026 Discussion - #926
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I appreciate your thoughtful response and understand why there might be frustration. But it appears as though UC Merced does have capacity, and there are tons of Cal States as well. Are the California publics so applied to because of the numbers of out-of-state students, or because of the large number of California students? I know in other threads where it talks about the proportion of California residents compared to other states or the rest of the U.S. and that part of the issue is that California is just so populous.
Good news, reported by NY Times. Berkeley only excepts 400 people to be cut, after all other measures.
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Some commenters donāt understand what a political hot potato this is, particularly with the governor as an election approaches. Very, very unlikely to cut transfers in their push for equity and diversity.
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A common misconception. Mills did nor āsellā to Northeastern. Northeastern did not ābuyā or āpurchaseā Mills. It is a merger. Northeastern acquires the assets and liabilities of Mills College. No money changes hands.
From the tenor of the comments on this thread (and others) it seems like a lot of the frustration is around the lack of seats (or competition for seats) at the most desirable UC schools - UCB, UCLA, UCSD and UCSB. If UC Merced routinely has seats, and there are CSUās to choose from as well, is it really a question of scarcity or just that high performing CA kids only want to attend a handful of the in-state schools available to them?
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It really isnāt that much different from high performing high school students elsewhere who make long lists of reaches to apply to, but cannot find a likely or safety college that they are willing to apply to.
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CEQA needs reform desperately; in this instance, itās being weaponized to benefit a few (more resourced) vs. the many (in general, less resourced). worse, itās the same kind of NIMBYs - in many cases, literally the same people - who have repeatedly prevented cal from developing land its owned for decades into student housing (e.g., peopleās park, anchor house)ā¦even as the regents throw in concession after concession (most of which, like affordable units, public spaces and wraparound services, inarguably benefit the larger community). how is this defensible?
my daughter is a freshman at cal this year. i went to cal in the paleolithic and lived in berkeley and oakland for some years before moving to san francisco, where iāve watched fauxgressive NIMBYism hold CA back from addressing its housing crisis for the last 35 years.
i take the long view on this; UC accessibility and ability to serve qualified students and act as a change agent in redressing issues of social inequity is inextricably entwined with the housing crisis. CAās housing crisis is not unique, but it is uniquely bad, and most of our UC campuses are at the heart of the pain ā even as those ādisruptiveā students help build the university brand, which directly and indirectly benefits local homeowners by driving up home values.
itās scarcity behavior, but the berkeley NIMBYs who got theirs - many of these people and their families have benefited personally from a cal education and/or the many jobs and rich cultural life the university provides and often funds - need to take a step back and do their share to be part of the solution. the campus has been there since the mid1800s; they knew what they were buying into.
itās like these homeowners forget that public universities are a public good. educating a disproportionately large share of first-gen and low-income students benefits all of us.
iām sick of this crap, and of hearing about students at various UCs living in cars, etc. whilst trying to secure an education. the berkeley NIMBY mission is shameful. they must meet cal as a willing partner to continue to build responsibly and house students with dignity.
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Completely agree. Berkeley is a college town. If homeowners donāt like living in a college town, they should move somewhere else that can accommodate their desire for low density, single family home neighborhoods. Their desire to āprotectā their neighborhoods canāt outweigh the need to educate as many students as possible.
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Great post! Fully agree 
Just saw this
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Makes sense! How about refunding the OOS application fees? While my daughter will not get the time and effort she spent on the application back, I will take the $70.
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News from LA Times: āOverall, the campus plans to enroll about 5,370 first-year California students both in-person and online this fall, an increase of about 500 over last year. They would make up about 90% of all freshmen, compared to 70% last year. Among them, 4,370 would be enrolled on campus, while 1,000 would spend fall semester in remote classes and move to in-person instruction for spring semester beginning in January 2023, the university announced Friday.ā
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In related newsā¦
The other 49 states have agreed to correspondingly reduce the admissions rate for California students applying to their state universities.
Whatās good for the gooseā¦
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This is already the case with many state schools, e.g. UT Austin must accept 90% from in-state.
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It is sad that higher education has turned into a zero-sum game to such an extent. As a Californian I want to be inclusive and I draw no solace from excluding OOS and international applicants. There has to be a better way.
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