State lawmakers are now considering a plan to cut the number of out-of-state students that the University of California is allowed to enroll by nearly half.
Currently, about 19% of new students in the system are from other states. The state Senate is now proposing to limit that to 10%.
This comes as the number of out-of-state students has ballooned over the last decade. Those students pay more money in tuition, which provided schools with a much-needed boost in funding.
But California students are now feeling the squeeze.
The LA Times reports that out-of-state students made up just 5% of the student body in 2007.
And at the state’s most selective campuses – UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego – nonresidents now make up nearly a quarter of incoming students.
“What I’ve seen, especially in the past four or five years, is a lot of overflow into other reputable state public schools,” said Irena Smith, a Palo Alto-based college admissions consultant.
That is exactly what supporters of the plan are hoping to prevent.
“These are some of our best and brightest students. The last thing we want to do is lose them to some other state because they want to go to college there because they couldn’t get into the UC of their choice,” said Assemblymember Phil Ting.
The University of California is in control of its own admissions policies, but lawmakers may negotiate for the changes they want, especially as they are currently considering how to spend the largest budget surplus in the state’s history.
UC officials say that out of state tuition provides needed funds that support services available to all students.
The lawmakers’ proposal would include funding to offset those losses.
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