The University of California has accepted a record number of community college students for the fall quarter, marking the fifth year in a row that the prestigious system has boosted its admission of transfer students.
More than 14,000 transfer students were accepted from the roughly 23,000 who applied. The acceptance rate is a 7.6 percent increase over last year, UC officials announced Tuesday.

UC San Diego accepted the most transfer students, with UCLA and UC Santa Barbara running just behind. UC Berkeley accepted the fewest number, while UC Davis ranked in the middle.

UC and community college officials struck a deal four years ago to boost enrollment of transfer students by 6 percent every year.

Since then, school officials say they've averaged the 6-percent growth goal with aggressive outreach that includes sending UC admissions staff to the 108 community college campuses to advise students and counselors. UC campuses also offer programs that guarantee admissions to community college students with high grade-point averages.

"We have a commitment to enroll more transfer students and the fall 2003 admission numbers bode well for that," said Hanan Eisenman, a UC spokesman.

African American, Latino and American Indian students made up 18.5 percent of the transfers offered UC admission, up slightly from 17.8 percent last year.

In a modest increase over last year, UC Davis offered slots to 3,970 community college transfers out of more than 6,000 applicants. Those students account for more than 90 percent of all transfer students who have been accepted to Davis for fall 2003.

UC Davis officials don't know yet how many will enroll.

Last year, Diablo Valley College, with 26,000 students in Contra Costa County, fed the greatest number of transfers to the Davis campus, followed by American River and Sacramento City colleges, said Yvonne Marsh, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs.

Students from DeAnza College in Cupertino and Rocklin-based Sierra College also posted high registration numbers at UC Davis last fall.

With stiff competition for a UC degree, Marsh said growing numbers of high school graduates are going to community colleges, hoping to boost their chances for admission to UC for their junior and senior years.

"We definitely encourage students to consider the community college option and make contacts with transfer officers who can guide them on how to make the transition," she said.

Eisenman said the growth in transfer admissions has not impacted admissions for freshmen, which have also been rising every year.

At UC Davis, upper division courses -- those taken by juniors and seniors in their degree programs -are not booked completely, leaving room for transfer students without limiting availability for incoming freshmen taking lower-division classes, Marsh said.