Admitting thousands more tuition-paying non-Californians is a good move by UCLA, but not for the politically correct reason of greater diversity that administrators are pushing. Simply put, nonresidents pay the big bucks; 22,879 of them to be exact.
UCLA is planning to recruit more out-of-state and international students in the coming years, a move that would increase the overall student body while keeping constant the number of in-state students. This board sympathizes with the tight situation that the campus leadership finds itself in. With a scarcity of teaching assistants in classrooms and student services being cut, receiving additional funds from nonresident students is a welcome move.
UCLA plans to enroll 2,000 additional premium-paying nonresident students. And more students means more general funds. The extra $22,879 these students pay will help with course offerings and a flurry of academic departments whose funding is evaporating quickly.
The UC has already had to stomach several budget cuts, and it is unlikely that state legislators will fund higher education any time soon.
Lawmakers agreed to a budget, albeit 93 days into the fiscal year, that is likely to have little relief for the UC.
The quality of the UC education is at risk unless decisive and effective actions are taken. While this board would welcome some immediate results, UCLA’s plan signifies a decisive turn toward better longer-term solutions to our budgetary problems.
The university’s campaign to recruit more out-of-state and international students is already well underway. Two years ago when this campus began feeling the effects of dwindling state support, UCLA leaders began looking to out-of-state and international students as a possible solution to the cuts in funding.
The evidence of the recruiting push is clear: The number of international students enrolled at UCLA in 2009 doubled from 2008.
Over-enrollment also continues to be an issue across the UC campuses, and while figures are not definite, at least 750 students were completely unaccounted for in the UCLA budget.
Nonresident students, however, do not partake in this equation.
Their enrollment at UCLA would simply mean a larger general student body, something this board is confident the university can accommodate. Enrolling more international students would also align UCLA more with its graduate schools, which already have a greater population of nonresidents.
Keeping targets for California residents the same is no doubt comforting.
While seemingly counterintuitive, catering to nonresident students means UCLA is putting Californians first.