UC has rolled back its enrollment reduction plan for fall 2010 in recognition of promised increases in state funding.

The university curtailed fall 2009 freshman enrollment by 2,300 students and had planned to reduce the fall 2010 freshman class by another 2,300, depending on the state funding outlook for the next fiscal year. Instead, UC will trim freshman enrollment by 1,500. UC will, for the second year, accept 500 additional transfers from California community colleges.

Most campuses have set up a waiting list to admit more students. This would be the first time UC has employed systemwide waiting lists to manage student enrollment, said Patrick Lenz, vice president of UC's budget office, before the UC Regents at their Jan. 20 meeting.

"Our main priority is to put dollars back into the classroom to directly benefit the students," Lenz said.

Most campuses will use the waitlists, although UCLA has determined that the use of a waiting list, as an enrollment management tool, is not necessary at this time. Berkeley is currently evaluating its position on waitlists and expects to announce its decision soon. Merced will continue to offer admission to all of its UC-eligible applicants and therefore will not participate in the wait-list process.  

In the budget Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced Jan. 8, UC would receive $3.019 billion. That includes $370 million more than the 2009-10 allocation, but the bulk of that increase — $305 million — is money the state cut from UC's 2009-10 budget and promised to give back next year. And the $370 million amounts to roughly 40 percent of the additional $913 million UC requested to close its budget shortfall. If all of the governor's funding provisions for UC survive in the final state budget, the university would still have a shortfall of $237 million from UC's 2007-08 funding level, Lenz said.

President Mark Yudof briefed the Regents on UC's advocacy activities to bolster legislative support for fully funding the university's budget request. Yudof is mobilizing UC's 200,000 advocates to contact Sacramento lawmakers asking them to support UC's budget request.

"I probably spend 80 percent of my time in one form or another on advocacy," Yudof said. "We are operating in a budget climate that we all know is brutal. But to win this one, I am going to need all the troops, all of our stakeholders — alumni, students, faculty, staff, parent advocates — spreading our message that UC is not out of the woods yet."

After hearing Lenz' budget presentation, Regents expressed appreciation for the governor's efforts to shift state funding priorities back to higher education. Yet several Regents said they were skeptical of the governor's spending plan since some of the funding depends on California getting a $6.9 billion infusion of federal dollars.

"It is going to take years to fix the problem we're in now," said Regent Fred Ruiz. "I'm really concerned that it will get worse before it gets better."

The $51.3 million in the governor's budget for UC enrollment growth is contingent upon California receiving the additional federal funds. That amount would serve 5,121 full-time equivalent students. UC currently has more than 15,000 students for whom the state provides no funding. The budget proposal from the governor also counts $64 million in student fees for enrollment growth, which would fund an additional 6,400 students. But Lenz said it is misleading to count the $64 million in fee revenue as funding for enrollment growth because it is not new money from the state but funds UC already will receive from student fee payments.

"We have gaping holes in our finances," said UC Regents Chairman Russell Gould. "UC's voice has got to be heard. Let's lend our voices to get every buck we can from the federal government."

The governor's budget includes $14.1 million for UC retiree health benefits. But UC had asked for an additional $95.7 million for employer contributions to the UC Retirement Plan. Funding to restart contributions to the retirement plan after 20 years of no contributions should remain a high priority for UC, Gould said.

Donna Hemmila is managing editor with the UC Office of the President Integrated Communications. For more information, visit the UC Newsroom or follow us on Twitter.