In an attempt to increase enrollment, UC Merced plans to implement a new program that would guarantee students admission to one of four other University of California campuses on the condition that they first attend the Central Valley campus for at least two years.
Merced officials said they hope the Shared Experience program will help distribute growth across the UC system during a time of sky-high system-wide applications, which this year totaled 110,994.
Four UC campuses ““ Berkeley, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Irvine ““ will be partnering with the developing campus in the program starting this fall.
The goal is to admit 1,000 academically “exceptional students,” with guaranteed acceptance into one of the four more established schools after two years at Merced, according to a statement from UC Merced.
The program is designed to allow students who narrowly missed the mark for admittance at one or more UC campuses to have the opportunity to attend one of those four, UC Merced spokeswoman Patti Waid Istas said in a statement.
The three-year-old UC campus currently has 1,286 students enrolled, according to the UC Merced Web site.
The campus is ultimately hoping students will choose to stay at the school after their mandatory two years are up.
“We find that once students come on campus, they tend to not want to leave,” said Encarnacion Ruiz, director of admissions at UC Merced. “They get a very personal experience; we will see how it goes. We are very excited for these new students to arrive in the fall.”
Merced Chancellor Steve Kang also said he believes many students will decline to transfer.
“Based on our retention rate of more than 80 percent, I am confident that a substantial number of students participating in the program will choose to remain here,” he said in a statement.
Ruiz said he believes the program will benefit all of the campuses, based on past university agendas that have succeeded in helping new campuses expand.
“Shared Experience is a great opportunity to fulfill a dream of going to a UC campus,” Ruiz said. “If they like Merced, we would love to have them stay, or else they can transfer to the school they are contracted with. It’s a win-win either way for the entire system.”
The Shared Experience program is modeled after a program that was instated in the University of California during the 1980s. The new program is expected to last anywhere from two to four years, according to a statement by UC Merced.
Cathy Lawhon, of UC Irvine’s media department, described the program as a part of a well-established pattern in getting new UC campuses off the ground.
“This is not at all new or unusual,” Lawhon said. “The university has a long tradition when new campuses come online that allows all eligible students to find a place within the University of California system.”
But some students said they would prefer to go to a community college before transferring instead.
Stephanie Tate, a high school student at Natomas Charter School’s Performing and Fine Arts Academy in Natomas, California, is planning on applying to UCLA in the future, but said if she does not get in she will likely opt to attend community college.
“I don’t mind if I go to a UC right away ““ all that matters if is that I get to go to (a) UC eventually,” she said.
UC officials said they hope improvements to their developing campus will entice more students.
“Now that we are able to offer more majors and minors, guaranteed housing for all freshmen, campus sports and more facilities, I’m sure an increasing number of these outstanding students will want to be part of UC Merced’s campus community,” Kang said in a statement.
Ruiz also stressed the advantages of the new campus.
“Our retention rates are high, our academic programs are sound, our faculty is high quality, and we find that the personal experience is very compelling to students.”