The new state budget requires CSU to develop by May new preferences for qualified applicants from the local regions around campuses. The action grows out of concerns that more CSU campuses and majors are becoming overcrowded and are turning away students.
The test’s content was dramatically changed last year to align much more closely with subject material taught in high school. Gaps among racial groups persist in California and nationally.
Statewide award recipient Lynda McGee was praised for her efforts to get low-income students into college. She says that some students should try to attend college away from home to have a better shot at finishing in four years.
The new policy would allow UC's nine undergraduate campuses to seek recommendation letters and other information from up to 15 percent of their freshman applicants. The change will be monitored to see if it hurts low-income and minority students.
The number of freshman admission offers to -in-state students declined 1.7 percent to 69,972 but UC officials say they still expect a rise in actual enrollment. Meanwhile the offers to students from other states and nations were up 4 percent in the last year before new enrollment limits on them go into effect.
The high school graduation and college attendance rates for black, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander young men is well below that of whites and Asians. A new study by the Education Trust-West urges barriers be lifted and more support offered for those minority male students.
The new policy is a compromise that allows five campuses to grow their out-of-state undergraduates to 18 percent, while freezing such enrollment at the four campuses already above that level. One regent said UC was "building a wall" around the university.
The study contends that Pell grant students would have a better chance at graduating if they started at four-year, elite colleges. It says that affluent campuses can easily afford to enroll more.
Students from low-income and immigrant families may face particularly difficult decisions in weighing colleges' financial aid offers. Some families are very resistant to loans.
UC administrators say the enrollment of nonresidents helps Californians, while some legislators say they think admission spots are being denied to in-state students. A vote on a cap was postponed until May after much disagreement among regents.
