SAN FRANCISCO – Two years after revamping an admissions policy designed to broaden the scope of the application process at the University of California, a faculty report has concluded that many initial concerns over the changes have dissipated.

The policy, called comprehensive review, includes consideration of an applicant's personal factors such as income, special talents and parents' education, as well as academic achievement.

Critics feared the policy would diminish the quality of UC students. Some questioned how the policy would be consistently applied to the eight undergraduate campuses. There also were concerns of how to prevent students from fabricating awards or personal stories.

The findings presented to yesterday's meeting of University of California regents found many of the intended results: The proportion of low-income, first-generation college students has increased while nearly every measure of students' academic preparedness has improved.

Of a sample group of applicants asked to send in verification of their awards and qualifications, 83 percent did so.

Not every finding was positive. One notable exception was a drop-off in the number of high-achieving, underrepresented minority students such as blacks, Latinos and American Indians who enrolled in a UC campus after being denied admission to the most selective campuses – Berkeley and Los Angeles.

For example, about 59 percent of top underrepresented applicants denied admission to those two campuses abandoned the UC system last year. Most went to private universities rather than attend another UC campus.

Meanwhile, 43 percent of all other top applicants denied admission to Berkeley and UCLA left the UC system.

Barbara Sawrey, the head of the faculty admissions committee, warned against reading too much into the numbers. Last year, she said, the 59 percent figure represented only 104 students.

Another concern noted in the report was the slowdown in growth of underrepresented minority students on some campuses when compared with the dramatic increases the previous year.

Some regents, including Ward Connerly, continued to question whether the process gives too much weight to nonacademic factors.

Other regents, including San Diego Padres owner John Moores, asked that the application process be simplified, in hopes of better attracting out-of-state students.

Moores, the chairman, said if regents are serious about a recent suggestion to overcome budget shortfalls by significantly raising out-of-state tuition, the board needs to make the UC application process simpler.

"We make it extraordinarily difficult for the consumers to get in," he said. "Can we simplify this miserably complex application?"

A faculty committee was asked to consider these questions and report at a future meeting.

The faculty report is available on the Web at:

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/
regmeet/sept03/302attach.pdf.