UC Merced tops in diversity
Fresno Bee 4/6/07
Thirty-one percent of students admitted to the freshman class this fall at the University of California at Merced are Hispanic, black or American Indian -- groups considered "underrepresented" by the University of California system.
"We're pretty excited about that," said Encarnacion Ruiz, UC Merced's director of undergraduate admissions. "We're very proud of our diversity here and the fact that ... African-Americans and Latinos are applying and getting in."
The UC system also saw the highest number of minority admissions in the past 12 years. UC officials said 13,129 students from underrepresented races or ethnicities have been admitted for fall 2007 -- or about 23% of the high school seniors admitted to UC campuses.
UC Merced may be leading the way in diversity, but it has been struggling to enroll enough students. Officials hope this is the year that the Merced campus, which opened in 2005, hits its enrollment goal of 2,000 students after missing the target for its first two years.
Nineteen percent of UC Merced's applicants are from the San Joaquin Valley, Ruiz said, bearing out a major argument for establishment of the campus. Backers of a central San Joaquin Valley campus said its construction was necessary to improve enrollment rates for minorities and Valley residents.
The campus "also attracts students statewide," he said. "There are no majorities here. There are people who look like you."
Nearly 80% of 2,199 UC applicants from Fresno, Inyo, Kings, Kern and Tulare counties were admitted to a UC campus.
University of California total admissions hit a record high of 57,318 students. But UC Merced -- now with an enrollment of 1,286 -- has failed to grow as expected.
Enrollment at the Merced campus was projected to grow by 600 students every year until it reached a maximum of 25,000 students. Ruiz said he hopes the record number of admissions will mean that Merced will reach its target of 2,000 enrollments this fall.
Still, the campus is not a first choice for many. Although more than 12,000 freshmen were offered fall 2006 admission to UC Merced last year, only about 4% -- slightly more than 450 students -- signaled their intent to enroll. Other UC campuses saw enrollment rates between 20% and 40% last year.
In an effort to increase enrollment, UC has set up a "Shared Experience" program for UC Merced with links to UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC San Diego.
Selected students who applied to but were not admitted to those campuses can enroll at UC Merced for their first two years of college. In their junior year, the students can choose to stay at UC Merced or transfer to their original campus of choice, provided they meet academic requirements.
Gina Rodriguez, spokeswoman for Californians for Justice, a group that strives for racial equality and college access for minority students, said she was happy to hear that minority admissions to UC Merced and the UC system are continuing to grow.
"But in Fresno, there's still a long way to go," she said, pointing to local school districts that she says fail to prepare enough students for college. Rodriguez said only three out of 10 high school graduates from the Valley meet the requirements for admission to a UC campus, partly because of a lack of counselors and college-preparatory programs in Valley high schools.
The University of California has acknowledged this issue by incorporating a "comprehensive review" into its admissions process, said Susan Wilbur, director of undergraduate admissions for the UC system.
"We always take into consideration a student's learning experience," Wilbur said. "We see that the student takes advantage of what's available to him."
This "comprehensive review" approach partially accounts for nearly 35% of admitted UC students coming from families who make less than $40,000 annually and nearly 20% of students coming from high schools ranking low on the Academic Performance Index. The API is a state ranking of schools based on factors such as test scores and student demographics.
Wilbur said the UC system has not seen a higher number of black or Hispanic admissions for at least 12 years. She did not have the statistics available for admissions before the year 1995.
Wilbur said she thinks that the increase in minority admissions is greatly due to an increase in black and Hispanic applicants.
Applications from minority students dropped after the University of California decided in 1995 to end affirmative action in college admissions and California voters, in 1996, approved Proposition 209, a ballot measure that banned the consideration of race or gender in public hiring, contracting and education.
Freshman applicants have until May 1 to review their offers of admission and send back a form indicating their intent to enroll. Final registration numbers will depend on how many students successfully complete the enrollment process and attend in the fall.
UC admissions
Percentage of American Indian, black and Hispanic students admitted to University of California campuses for fall 2007
UC Merced 31.4%
UC Riverside 28.7%
UC Santa Barbara 21.6%
UC Santa Cruz 20.9%
UC Davis 18.1%
UC Irvine 18.1%
UC Berkeley 17.5%
UCLA 17.5%
UC San Diego 16.1%
UC system 22.9%
Source: University of California (Admissions statistics are preliminary and exclude transfer students and out-of-state students.)