Things are finally looking a little sunnier for California natives looking to enroll in the University of California system. Admissions offers to California high school seniors from UC campuses jumped nearly 15 percent over last year, according to preliminary data released by the University of California Monday. The embattled UC system has been under fire as of late for giving coveted spots to too many out-of-state students. Last month the California State Auditor released a scathing report lambasting the public university system for lowering their admission standards for nonresidents to raise cash. According to SF Gate, UC regents began encouraging nonresident enrollment in 2008 with a policy that let campuses keep the extra tuition money brought in by nonresident students instead of sharing it with other campuses. Enrollment of nonresidents has quadrupled over the last decade, while that of California students has grown by just 10 percent.
"Our commitment to California and California students has never wavered, even through the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression," UC President Janet Napolitano said in a press release. "Now, with additional state funding, we are able to bring in even more California students."
According to the preliminary data, the number of California resident freshmen admitted to UC campuses for fall 2016 increased by 8,488 students, which makes for a 14.7 percent increase over 2015 and a total of 66,123 admissions offers. The L.A. Times reports that this is the largest jump in offers to California students since the UC system started keeping track of this kind of data in 1994.
Admission of underrepresented minorities also grew significantly: the number of admitted African American students rose 32 percent from 2015, and offers to Chicano/Latino students for this year's class made up 32 percent of the total number of admitted students, up from 28.8 percent last year.
