The number of applicants to the University of California dropped
4 percent this year, after student fees increased 40 percent,
anti-terror laws targeted foreign students, and outreach programs
were cut to help fill the state budget hole. The university has not
seen a drop like this since 1993.
The decline in applicants particularly is upsetting because the
changes have not affected all students equally ““ applicants
from out-of-state and overseas have been affected more than others.
And though the university has tried to offset fee increases with
financial aid packages, the hikes inevitably hurt students from
lower income backgrounds than those from affluent backgrounds.
Despite the bad news, Hanan Eisenman, a spokesman for the UC
Office of the President, had the gall to tell the Daily Bruin,
“a slight reduction (in applicants) may actually ease the
pressure on the system.” Although the reduction may help the
current financial crisis, the UC never should welcome a reduction
in the diversity and size of its applicant pool.
The drop in applicants ““ if not a crisis in itself ““
should be seen as a grave warning: If the UC does not secure its
finances, it will be caught in a downward spiral.
Some UC campuses ““Â including UCLA ““ are
currently ranked among the best universities in the world. The UC
““ and California ““ is still profiting from the
investments that were made in previous decades, when education was
a higher priority of the state’s government.
Gov. Schwarzenegger and company must not forget that investments
made today will pay off tomorrow. The UC administration should
remind them of that ““ not just hope for fewer applicants.