UC
enrollment down, minority numbers drop
BERKELEY (AP) -- Admissions to the University
of California this fall declined 7 percent
due to state funding cuts, with the numbers
for black students dropping even more sharply.
The
reductions made this the first time in four
decades that UC was unable to accept all
eligible in-state freshmen.
''It's
been a very difficult year for students.
It's been a difficult year for the university,''
said Susan Wilbur, UC's director of undergraduate
admissions.
This
year's admissions decisions were made against
the backdrop of the state's financial crisis.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked UC
to cut enrollment by 3,200 students this
fall, offering those students a guarantee
of transferring as juniors if they go to
community college for the first two years.
The
figures released Tuesday, which are admissions
offers, not actual enrollment, include 7,600
guaranteed transfer offers. Overall, just
under 47,000 state residents were offered
freshman admission this fall compared to
more than 50,000 last year.
An
additional 2,661 students were offered delayed
admission for the winter or spring terms
and 1,120 students who didn't get into the
engineering programs they applied to were
offered the chance to study engineering
at UC Riverside.
All
major ethnic groups saw declines in admissions
and the figures show that blacks, Hispanics
and American Indians, traditionally underrepresented
at UC, increased very slightly as a proportion
of overall admits, from 19.8 percent last
year to 20 percent.
However,
the actual number of underrepresented minorities
admitted was down, 15 percent in the case
of black students, and UC officials said
they're concerned about that.
''Is
this a one-year event or a trend? We don't
know,'' Wilbur said.
At
UC Berkeley, Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl
called fall admission figures showing a
decrease in black and Hispanic students,
traditionally underrepresented at the campus,
''just flat-out unacceptable.''
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