U. California-Berkeley’s plan to increase out-of-state and international undergraduate students while decreasing the number of California residents will make for both a more diverse college environment and will garner more funding for the campus, officials said.
Last year, it cost the campus $26.8 million to offset 2,400 enrollments left unfunded by the state of California. In response, UC Berkeley decided to decrease the number of in-state students this year to meet the number the state provides funding for, admitting 13 percent more nonresident students for the fall who come with the added bonus of $22,000 more per student than California residents must pay.
The total number of nonresident students who submitted their Statements of Intent to Register (SIRs), including those who applied for fall but are enrolling in the spring, is 1,188 – up about 91 percent from those who accepted their offers for 2009-10. Nonresidents make up about 22.6 percent of the 5,247 freshmen who submitted SIRs for the fall and spring.
Funds gained through increasing the nonresident population will go toward keeping courses open and increasing the number of sections in certain classes, including Reading and Composition courses. The campus will also use the money to recruit and retain underrepresented minority students.
“We have to figure out how we can afford it, but we will fund (recruitment efforts) explicitly out of the additional resources our increased number of international students made possible,” said Chancellor Robert Birgeneau at a press conference after a July 14 UC Board of Regents meeting.
The money will support programs including annual receptions hosted by the campus throughout the state during application season and in the spring after students have been admitted.
“We continue to work towards greater ethnic diversity overall,” said Susanna Castillo-Robson, associate vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment. “We’re still saddened we don’t have the rich diversity we had prior to Prop 209 in the 1980s. That’s why the chancellor is investing much more money in recruitment from all geographic sectors of California.”
Castillo-Robson added that the campus has been successful in enrolling economically diverse students.
“About a third of our students come from lower-income families, a third from middle income and a third from upper-income families. We expect this will continue to be the case in 2010-11,” she said
The campus ultimately aims to have an undergraduate student body composed of 80 percent in-state and 20 percent nonresident students over the course of four years.
“When you think about building a class from an enrollment management perspective, mainly we are striving to achieve a student body that represents the rich diversity, not only in our state or country, but globally.” Castillo-Robson said. “Cross-cultural competence is not only a skill that can be taught, it’s also how you eventually look at the world through exposure to other points of view.”
In-state and international students expressed mixed views of the increase in nonresidential students.
“To a certain extent, it’s fine because the money benefits students here, most of whom are California residents,” said UC Berkeley sophomore and California resident Emily Iannarelli. “If it’s not a dramatic amount, it’s fine.”
Many international students agreed, adding that a variety of international students helps increase cultural awareness, but some said otherwise.
“I don’t think shifting the ratio in order to solve this problem will work,” said Bagassi Koura from Burkina Faso who graduated from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism in May. “It gives more chances to international students, but the objective is to make more money.”
The exact figures of enrolled students will not be known until after a census this fall because administrators are watching for a phenomenon known as “summer melt,” when students who submitted their SIRs do not end up enrolling as the fall semester begins. So far, 50 students have reversed their decision to attend UC Berkeley.
“There is a lot of coming and going between May 1 and the first day of classes,” Castillo-Robson said. “The admissions office has been very wise and careful in its projections for summer melt in the past.”
However, Castillo-Robson said that recently, the percentage of summer melt has been harder to predict due to a continuing recession and the increase in nonresident admits.
“Generally it’s around 4 to 6 percent,” said Bob Patterson, deputy director of undergraduate admissions. “Right now we’re at about 1.2 percent.”