Out-of-state interest drives UC applications to record high

By Alexei Koseff

A surge in interest from out-of-state and international students drove another year of record application numbers at the University of California, according to data released this week by the university.

As reported last month, 193,873 prospective freshmen or transfer students applied to at least one of UC’s nine undergraduate campuses this year, an increase of 5.8 percent over fall 2014 and the 11th consecutive year of growth.

The increase was especially sharp among out-of-state and international applicants, whose numbers climbed by 16.6 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively, to 31,651 and 29,839. In recent years, UC campuses have aggressively recruited nonresident students who pay a supplemental fee that brings in hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the university.

California students still make up more than two-thirds of UC applicants, although they showed a more modest gain of 2.7 percent. Latinos and Asian Americans each made up nearly a third of California applicants to the UC, while applications from white students continued to fall.

A new breakdown of applications by campus shows shows large gains across the board, with students applying to an average of four UC schools. All nine campuses posted their own record application numbers, while Merced, Riverside and Santa Cruz had the largest percentage growth.

In the chart below, select the year and hover over the chart to get numbers for in-state, out-of-state and international applicants. The chart also is available here.

[Source]: Sacramento Bee