SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - More local college applicants could soon be admitted to UC schools.
Independent college counselor Gina Greenhaus has spent more than a decade helping local students get into colleges and universities. She spoke to ABC 10News on Tuesday about this week's news that state lawmakers are reportedly looking at a plan to cut the share of international and out-of-state students at University of California public schools. The goal would reportedly be to pave the way for additional resident students like many of the ones that Greenhaus works with.
"I'm hoping that maybe this will make a difference," she told ABC 10News. She said it has become increasingly difficult for state applicants to gain admission, especially this year. She added, "When I saw those decisions come in [and many read] 'denied' [or] 'waitlist' with a handful of kids that I thought would probably get in, I thought, 'Wow. Something has really changed.'"
According to the LA Times, state senators proposed slashing the percentage of nonresident freshmen from 19% to 10% over a 10-year period, allowing about 4,600 more in-state students a place each year. Additionally, the plan would reportedly compensate the UC system for the loss of revenue it typically gets from high dollar out-of-state tuition.
The University of California's Office of the President sent ABC 10News the following statement:
"The University of California is dedicated to educating California’s next generation of leaders. We understand and support the Legislature’s goal of providing more opportunities for Californians at UC, though we believe trying to achieve this through reducing nonresident students will potentially lead to unanticipated outcomes. The UC Board of Regents has a policy in place restricting non-resident enrollment, a cap across all UC campuses of 18 percent, or the level the campus was at in 2017. While tuition paid by nonresident students continues to be a key funding source for financial aid for low-income California undergraduates to attend UC, these students also contribute to the academic environment and enrich the overall experience. We believe that providing UC a stable and predictable revenue source through the State budget process would give us the resources necessary to support all enrolled California students – a goal we share with the Legislature.
We encourage state leaders to build on Gov. Newsom’s significant investments in his revised budget by allotting additional stable revenue streams for UC. This support will give us the ongoing funding necessary to increase California undergraduate enrollment without adversely impacting our low-income students and without limiting our ability to recruit hardworking students from across the country and the world."
"If we want a globally-minded campus, we have to balance things on both sides," added Greenhaus.
