Alumni and admissions staff fanned out across Southeast Asia and the U.S. this fall with a goal to double the number of nonresidents at UCLA.
Before that, in the summer, a different recruitment effort was underway.
By early August, academic leadership had culled a task force of more than 30 people from all areas of campus life, from college deans to directors of housing and hospitality.
Those selected were charged with the task of preparing UCLA for a 10 percent increase in the undergraduate population within the next five years.
As a result of the recruitment effort nationally and overseas, numbers are expected to start rising immediately.
“We have basically less than a year to put something together and put it in place,” said Corey Hollis, director of College Academic Counseling and member of the Academic Issues work group. “We need to identify the needs and think creatively as to how they can be satisfied, how they can be met and put into effect.”
Workshops on recruitment strategies, academic issues and student services will meet throughout the year. Task force members were optimistic but acknowledged a daunting challenge ahead.
Boosting the nonresident population to about 5,000 will mean adding about 10,000 more seats to classes. It will mean more students seeking appointments in the Ashe Center at the height of flu season, more students in need of counseling or psychological services and more students in need of on-campus housing.
“We are now in a state of stress with the current population, so anything brought new is potentially difficult,” said Bruce Beiderwell, director of the UCLA writing program.
The Academic Issues work group, which includes Beiderwell, met for the first time two weeks ago to examine what resources nonresident students need to thrive. Beiderwell said he does not think the resources currently exist. That is where nonresident tuition comes in.
“It’s a matter of making sure a portion of what (nonresidents) bring to us is turned back to specific programs, courses, (and) support services that help them,” he said.
For example, years of budget cuts have diminished courses for English-language learners (ESL), which will likely be a key resource for international students.
Yoshiko Uemura is a third-year transfer linguistics student from Japan. She said has struggled with essay-writing her first quarter at UCLA and help has not been easy to find.
“I am not sure where the tutoring center is,” Uemura said. “I am not sure where I can (find help with) my grammar.”
Summer courses generate the revenue needed to fund ESL programming, but that currently meets the bare minimum, Beiderwell said.
At the Dashew Center, the main resource on campus for international students, participation is already on the rise as numbers tripled at the New International Student & Scholar Orientation this summer, said Bob Ericksen, director of the Dashew Center. This fall, record numbers of students signed up for the events offered by the center, such as trips to skating rinks or Lakers games.
Nonresidents pay about $22,000 more than California residents.
The university plans that the extra revenue will be turned back to support the population expansion, the hiring of staff and services for all UCLA undergraduates.
That revenue is likely to stay for the duration of the students’ time at UCLA. Laws enacted in the 1990s made it virtually impossible to gain California residency to pay in-state tuition, said Tom Lifka, associate vice chancellor of student affairs.
Under current laws, students still dependent on their parents for money cannot establish residency. Even a financially independent student has to prove intent to remain in California, through actions such as registering for a driver’s license.
Lifka said the presentations delivered to prospective students this fall made sure to emphasize that point.