University of California President Janet Napolitano has been under siege since March 2016, when state Auditor Elaine Howle released a report that showed that the UC system wasn’t honoring the principle that California students come first. Howle documented how, over the course of nearly a decade, budget-strapped UC had chosen to increase out-of-state students who pay far higher tuition by more than 400 percent – and that some were admitted ahead of nearly 4,300 California students “whose academic scores met or exceeded all of the median scores of nonresidents whom the university admitted to the campus of their choice.”
At least initially, Napolitano and some regents dismissedthe criticism before finally giving in and capping nonresident admissions last week. But the Golden State’s other giant higher education system – California State University – got the message loud and clear: In-state students must be the highest priority. Last week, CSU formally guaranteed that a qualified California high school graduate will be offered admission to at least one of CSU’s 23 campuses.
The policy change was part of negotiations by CSU leaders, the Brown administration and state lawmakers over CSU’s 2017-18 budget. The $5.4 billion allocated is up $344 million over the previous budget, with the state general fund paying for $3.2 billion and student tuition and fees expected to generate $2.2 billion.
The admissions guarantee comes after many years of CSU denying admission to tens of thousands of qualified California high school graduates – most recently, 31,000 in fall 2016. CSU officials previously said they didn’t have the space.
But last week in a prepared statement, CSU Chancellor Timothy White said the policy change will “better serve Californians.”
The decision was lauded by one of Napolitano’s and UC’s harshest critics – Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco. “The most important thing is this gives California’s students more options,” the Assembly budget chairman told the Bay Area News Group.
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