SAN FRANCISCO – Several committees of the University of California Board of Regents met Wednesday to discuss this year’s application progress, the Governor’s proposed budget and updates on UCPath, among other items.
Discussion on 2015-2016 undergraduate applications
Several UC officials spoke about the status of the 2015-2016 undergraduate student application process. There was a 2.3 percent increase in resident freshman applications and a 12 percent increase in resident transfer applications over the last year. Chicana/o resident freshman applications increased by 7.5 percent, while resident Chicano/a transfer applications increased 18.5 percent across the system. African-American resident freshman applications increased by 5.1 percent, and resident transfer applications increased by 26.3 percent. Several regents, including John A. Perez, Norman Pattiz and Bonnie Reiss, questioned why an increase in applications from minority and disadvantaged groups didn’t result in an increase of the number of students from those groups who are accepted and choose to enroll. The speakers were unsure of the reason for this but said they would look into it.
Update on governor’s proposed 2016-2017 budget
The Committee on Finance discussed which of the UC regents’ budget requests were included in the governor’s budget proposal. Most of the UC regents’ requests were included in the budget proposal, but about $80 million in funding for graduate enrollment, the Institute for Transportation Studies and cap and trade energy projects were not. Debora Obley, associate vice president for budget analysis and planning said the UC plans to continue to work with the legislature to include these funds in the budget.
Proposed Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition increase tabled
The Committee tabled a vote on increasing Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition, an additional fee for some professional programs, by 8 percent for six professional programs at four UC campuses. The committee decided to table the vote because some regents were confused about which programs the increase would affect.
In the 2015-2016 academic year, students paid a supplemental tuition in 64 graduate professional degree programs across the UC system. PDST levels during the current academic year range from $4,200 to $40,476, depending on a student’s program, campus and residency.
The proposal would have raised supplemental tuition for four UC nursing programs, a public policy program at UC San Diego and a healthy policy program at UC Irvine. The committee will now vote on the increase at their March meeting. The supplemental tuition increases would have gone to addressing shortfalls in revenue resulting from years when supplemental tuition was too low to cover costs.
Update on UCPath
The Committee heard updates about the UC’s centralized payroll and human resources system, the UC Payroll, Academic Personnel, Timekeeping and Human Resources project, which was launched at the UC Office of the President in November. Nathan Brostrom, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the UC, said the transition to UCPath was strong, and Peggy Arrivas, associate vice president, said feedback from employees was positive. The next deployment, or campus pilot, will include UC Riverside, UC Merced, UCLA and the Associated Students UCLA, and is currently in its design phase, expected to be completed by the end of February. The project will determine when the deployment phase is after the design phase is complete.
The Board of Regents will meet again Thursday to discuss a collaboration between the UC and the European Organization for Nuclear Research and vote to establish a student adviser position to the Board of Regents, among other topics.
Compiled by Ryan Leou, Bruin contributor.