University of California sees applications surge

Students are applying to the University of California in record numbers, with increases in freshman applications from other states and countries far outpacing those from within the state, new figures released Friday show.

Three-quarters of freshman and transfer applications for next fall still come from California students. But the cash-strapped university has stepped up recruitment of out-of-state freshmen, who pay nearly three times the tuition that residents pay: about $35,000 versus $12,000, including campus fees.

"That additional money is retained on the campus and enables us to offer more classes, bring in faculty and provide a broader array of choices - everyone benefits," said Susan Wilbur, director of undergraduate admissions.

UC's report also provides a wealth of information about who is applying to its nine undergraduate campuses, including campus-by-campus data, transfers, first-generation and low-income applicants, those from low-performing high schools, and ethnicity of applicants.

A surprise surge in applications has come from Latino students, whose requests are up by 18 percent this year.

6.1 percent increase

Overall, the number of students vying for admission to UC next fall as freshmen or transfer students rose by 6.1 percent over last year to a record 142,235 applications, up from 134,029.

More than 106,000 of those applicants applied for a freshman spot- with 75 percent of them California high school students.

UC expects to accept nearly 72 percent of those resident students, with slightly more than half - about 31,500 - likely to enroll, Wilbur said.

Applications from in-state students rose by 3.6 percent since last year. But the big jump in freshman applications came from high school students in other states and around the world.

International freshman applications rose by nearly 23 percent over last year, from 6,805 to 8,336 students.

Out-of-state freshman applications rose by nearly 11 percent, from 11,524 to 12,759 students.

The boost is the first tangible evidence of a new approach, endorsed last fall by UC's Commission on the Future, to raise revenue by increasing out-of-state enrollment from the current 6 percent. Goals range from 10 percent systemwide, to 20 percent at UC Berkeley, although UC officials say that will take several years to accomplish.

Meanwhile, UC faces a possible loss of $500 million in state funding for next year.

Students displaced

Critics say the public university shouldn't invite carpetbaggers to take the place of qualified residents. But UC officials say that since 2007, state funding has fallen short of covering the cost of all students, and the university has had to absorb the cost of educating them. Those undergraduates, currently 11,000, would be displaced by the nonresidents, UC says.

No state funding is used to recruit out-of-state students, Wilbur said.

In California, Asian American students sent in the most freshman applications: 27,681, up 5 percent from last year. White students were next: 25,562, up 2 percent. Black students sent in 4,843 applications, up 2 percent.

But the biggest increase came from Latinos, with 23,976 applications, up 18 percent.

One of them was Ana Avalos, a senior at Mission High in San Francisco with a grade-point average of 3.85, an A-minus.

"I'm really excited - I can't wait," said Avalos, one of nine children who is not only the first in her family to apply to college, but also the first to graduate from high school. She lives with two older sisters and occasionally visits her family in Guatemala, where they raise pineapples, oranges and bananas.

College there is "hard to get into, and very expensive," said Avalos, who is also applying to such private schools as Smith and Mount Holyoke, and hopes to major in biology.

One school she is not applying to is Stanford University, which is also reporting a record 7 percent increase in freshman applications for next fall: 34,200, up from 32,000 last year.

To see UC's full report on applications for fall, 2011, visit links.sfgate.com/ZKUY

E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle