Regents approve plan to increase UC resident enrollment by 10,000
On Thursday, the University of California Board of Regents Committees on Finance and Long Range Planning approved an enrollment plan to increase resident enrollment by 10,000 students. (Arman Sharif/Daily Bruin senior staff)
- Tuition rates for California students will remain frozen at 2011-2012 levels for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years.
- The plan includes a provision that allows the UC to raise out-of-state tuition by up to 8 percent annually through the 2019-2020 academic year.
- The UC plans to increase resident enrollment by 10,000 students by the academic year 2018-2019.
- The plan will also increase nonresident enrollment by 1,200 students.
- According to the plan, the University will eliminate all need-based aid for new out-of state students.
- It will also enroll 600 more graduate students in the next academic year.
UC Retirement Plan and pension provisions
- The UC will also allocate one-time funding of $436 million from the state for the University’s retirement program (UCRP).
- The University will adopt a cap on pensionable income for new UC employees at $117,020 per year, compared to the existing cap of $265,000.
By Arman Sharif
Nov. 19, 2015 3:48 p.m.
This post was updated on Nov. 19 at 4:55 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California Regents approved an operating budget plan Thursday that will aim to increase resident enrollment in the UC by 10,000 students over the next three years.
According to the operating budget plan for 2016-2017, the University will increase resident enrollment by 5,000 in the 2016-2017 academic year and add another 5,000 students by the 2018-2019 academic year.
The plan includes a provision that allows the UC to raise nonresident tuition by up to 8 percent annually through the 2019-2020 academic year, if tuition rates for California students remain at 2011-12 levels for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years.
UC President Janet Napolitano said at the meeting the plan aims to increase access and educational opportunity for Californians to the University.
Regent Eloy Ortiz Oakley said at the meeting he was in favor of the enrollment plan, in part because it could help increase diversity at the flagship UC campuses.
“This will provide us an opportunity to find talent in the neighborhoods throughout California and give those students a chance to succeed at the UC,” Oakley said.
Student Regent Avi Oved said at the meeting he thinks the plan may erode the quality of UC education because the UC doesn’t have adequate resources to match the increase in enrollment.
“We cannot look at enrollment in a vacuum,” Oved said. “We have to make sure we have resources to sustain the growth in enrollment.”
Oved added he will vote in favor of the plan, despite his concerns, to show confidence in Napolitano.
Nathan Brostrom, UC chief financial officer, added details of how the increase in enrollment will be divided across campuses have not yet been established, but no campus will be excluded from the increase.
Several regents expressed concern that the student-to-faculty ratio would increase as a result of the enrollment plan.
Debora Obley, interim associate vice president of Energy and Sustainability at University of California Office of the President, said she thinks campus officials will adjust by hiring temporary faculty and lecturers to ensure budgeted ratios are sustained.
Brostrom added about 500 additional UC faculty members will be hired to meet the increase in enrollment.
Contributing reports by Shreya Maskara, Bruin senior staff.
