This post was updated May 18 at 7:33 p.m.
University of California campuses will cap nonresident enrollment starting in fall 2018.
The UC Board of Regents voted to limit the percentage of nonresident students at 18 percent at five UC campuses Thursday at its bimonthly board meeting at UC San Francisco. UC campuses where nonresident enrollment exceeds 18 percent, including UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UC San Diego, will cap enrollment at their 2017-2018 levels.
Though most regents voted in favor of the cap, Regents Hadi Makarechian and Gareth Elliott voted against the proposal.
The state legislature allocated $18.5 million to the UC on the condition that the board adopt a policy limiting the number of undergraduate nonresidents. The funding will support the enrollment of an additional 2,500 California resident undergraduates in the 2017-2018 academic year.
Regents had considered a 20 percent cap at their March meeting before delaying the vote to May.
UC President Janet Napolitano said in a statement the nonresident enrollment cap would ensure that nonresident students are not enrolled in place of in-state students.
“Our nonresident enrollment policy underscores our unwavering commitment to the students of the state under the California Master Plan for Higher Education,” Napolitano said in the statement.
According to the UC Information Center Data Warehouse, about 22.8 percent of UCLA students are nonresidents, the third-highest percentage among UC campuses.
Makarechian said he voted against the cap because he thinks it goes against the values of a public university. He also noted that several high ranking UC officials, including Jagdeep Bachher, UC chief investment officer, and Henry Yang, chancellor of UC Santa Barbara, are immigrants.
“I know the in thing today is to build walls, but this is building a wall around the University of California,” he added.
Elliott said he did not feel a cap that allowed one quarter of UC Berkeley students to be from out of state was an effective limit on nonresident enrollment.
Regent George Kieffer, who voted yes, said he struggled to decide how to vote because he thought having different caps at different campuses would limit their abilities to grow.
“I can remember the days when (UC) San Diego was a different school and because it was permitted to grow in the way it did, it has put itself in the position it is in,” he said.
Contributing reports from Shweta Chawla, Daily Bruin contributor.