UC Applications for Fall Admission Down Slightly From Last Year

A student walks toward Royce Hall on the campus of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles on March 11, 2020. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

New student applications to University of California (UC) schools are down slightly this year, according to data released by UC last week.

Nearly 246,000 students applied to its 10 campuses for fall 2023—a 2 percent decrease from fall 2022, according to the data.

Despite the slight drop, UC President Michael Drake said interest in UC remains robust.

“The University of California received an impressive number of applications for admission from prospective students this year. This is a testament to the university’s continued reputation as a premier center of higher learning,” he said in a Feb. 24 statement.

This year’s decline was reflected for both freshman and transfer students, including being down nearly 4 percent from those hoping to transfer from the state’s community colleges.

Han Mi Yoon-Wu, UC’s undergraduate admissions director, said the university will endeavor to boost transfer numbers.

“We will continue to work with our colleagues at the California Community Colleges and with partner organizations to ensure that the university recruits an applicant pool that mirrors California,” he said in a statement also Feb. 24.

The overall drop is largely due to a decrease in international applicants—down 6 percent—and domestic out-of-state applicants, which were down 5 percent from last year.

However, the number of California resident applicants stayed nearly the same—down only about 100 students from last year.

Students walk through Sproul Plaza on the University of California–Berkeley campus in Berkeley, Calif., on April 23, 2012. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The latest application numbers come as UC is ramping up its outreach efforts to attract more California applicants.

When he announced his 2023–24 budget proposal in January, Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged a 5 percent boost in funding to both the UC and the California State University (CSU) systems if they work toward improving graduation and enrollment rates—particularly among California residents.

The funding increases would amount to $216 million for UC and $227 million for CSU.

Newsom also promised an additional $30 million to the UC system as an incentive to boost enrollment among California residents.

In a Jan. 10 statement, Drake said part of the extra funds will be used to reduce nonresident undergraduate enrollment and replace those seats with California students at UC’s Berkeley, San Diego, and Los Angeles campuses.

Of the 230,400 undergraduate students enrolled systemwide in Fall 2022, 83 percent were California residents, according to UC enrollment data.

Last year, UC regents launched a task force aiming to boost resident undergraduate enrollment by 16,000 and resident graduate enrollment by 4,000 by 2030, according to education news website EdSource.

A spokesperson for UC was not immediately available for comment.