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Assembly bill aims to cap nonresident enrollment at UC

By Nicholas Yu

March 6, 2015 12:29 a.m.

A state Assembly bill introduced March 2 would cap enrollment for nonresidents at the University of California and likely increase nonresident tuition to a level no lower than fees at the majority of other comparable public institutions.

Assembly Bill 1370, introduced by Assemblyman Jose Medina, would prevent nonresident enrollment at each UC campus from exceeding 10 percent of the total enrollment.

Campuses that had nonresident populations greater than 10 percent prior to the enactment of the bill would not be able to increase the enrollment of nonresidents.

The bill comes at a time when legislators are criticizing the UC for enrolling more nonresidents students to raise revenue and saying the UC has neglected to enroll enough Californian students. The University has said it needs funds from nonresidents, who pay more than what it costs for the UC to educate them, in order to address lower levels of state funding.

UC President Janet Napolitano announced Tuesday that the University will cap nonresident enrollment at UCLA and UC Berkeley next academic year, though the University plans to increase nonresident enrollment at other campus by about 800 to 1,000 students. The bill was proposed before Napolitano’s announcement.

About 15 percent of undergraduate students at the UC are nonresidents. The percentage of nonresidents enrolled at UCLA is higher than that of some campuses – 20 percent of the university’s undergraduates were nonresidents as of the last academic year.

The bill would require the total cost of tuition and fees for nonresident students to be no less than what nonresidents pay at other comparable institutions. A separate agency, either the currently defunct California Postsecondary Education Commission or a successor, would determine those institutions.

A nonresident at the UC pays about $35,000 a year in systemwide tuition and fees. University of Michigan, for instance, charges about $42,000 a year for nonresidents with less than 55 semester units and about $45,000 per year for those with more.

Under the bill, an undetermined portion of the revenue from nonresident tuition would be allocated to financial aid programs for residents.

The proposed legislation would also require revenues generated from nonresident tuition to be distributed equally to each campus. Currently, each campus keeps its own revenue, which some legislators have criticized saying it leads to unequal per-student funding across different campuses.

The University is still reviewing the proposed bill, so it does not have a position on it yet, said Shelly Meron, UC spokesperson, in an email.

Compiled by Nicholas Yu, Bruin contributor.

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Nicholas Yu | Assistant news editor
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