A recent report by the state auditor confirmed what California students have been saying for the past several years: The admission standards for University of California schools is rigged against them.
For the graduating Class of 2016, the UCs significantly reduced out-of-state applicants’ standards, thus accepting more out-of-state students than in previous years and rejecting record numbers of California residents, according to the report. Although concrete numerical standards have not been released, the report’s statistics show that the average SAT score of accepted out-of-state students this year is lower than that of most in-state students.
Because these schools are funded mostly by California-residing students’ families and were originally created for California residents, this change in admittance rate is extremely unfair and motivated by money — out-of-state students pay three times more than California residents to attend UC schools.
According to the California audit report released this year, the University of California system admitted 16,000 out-of-state students who were significantly less qualified on “every academic score evaluated than the median scores for admitted residents.”
For these 16,000 students, their college admittance was dependent on their geographic location rather than academic merit.
The entire point of having a University of California school system is to have elite universities in which capable California-residing students have a high chance of succeeding. These schools were created for California residents as an affordable alternative to private universities.
Most families from California pay taxes that fund these schools, so it is not at all unfair for UCs to accept a larger proportion of California residents and have much higher standards for out-of-state students.
While in previous years, the scores of out-of-state applicants needed to be as good as those of the top half of admitted in-state students, these non-California applicants now only need to “compare favorably,” according to the report.
From the 2010-2011 school year until now, out-of-state enrollment has grown by 82 percent, according to The Mercury News. This striking number suggests an unfair reality. The more out-of-state students who are accepted, the less California residents, whose parents have been funding these schools, can be accepted.
The UCs may justify their different standards on years of budget cuts and rising costs. Although it is reasonable to want more money for UC labs and activities, it is completely unreasonable to prioritize a need for money over California-residents’ rights to be prioritized over out-of-state students in terms of UC admittance.
Having been caught red-handed on this unjust issue, the UCs have stated that they will attempt to increase the number of accepted California resident students in the next few years, according to a report released by the UCs in response to the audit report.
Although this presents a hopeful outlook for the future of California residents, it does not comfort current California-residing seniors who were placed on a priority level lower than that given to out-of-state students.
It is extremely important for the UC system to realize that no matter how important or urgent the financial aspects may be, California students’ needs should come first.