A growing number of California undergraduates are participating in the Western Undergraduate Exchange, a program that helps underpopulated, public universities across the nation enroll students for less than the typical out-of-state tuition.
While the Western Undergraduate Exchange program may be beneficial for students who seek to avoid enrolling in a budget cut-ridden California college system, this trend is detrimental to California’s in-state students and highlights the effects of California’s recent cuts to higher education.
Schools participating in the Western Undergraduate Exchange can charge out-of-state students no more than 150 percent of the school’s regular in-state tuition. Currently, 150 public colleges across 15 states participate in this program, including 10 California State Universities, according to a recent Los Angeles Times article.
Last year, 10,000 California students left the state to participate in this program, while California colleges participating in this program received about 1,000 students from the other 14 participating states.
But if this trend continues, a continual large net loss of students to other states may result in a large loss of revenue for the state.
Although this program assists students attempting to avoid enrolling in overcrowded California schools, this approach only serves as a temporary fix.
Despite record-high applications to the CSU system in the last few years, admissions rates have dropped while total enrollment has only slightly increased, according to statistics released by the CSU.
Despite signs of a more qualified applicant class, such as higher applicant GPA and SAT scores, insufficient resources left after budget cuts have led to record-high rejections from the CSU system, according to admissions statistics released by CSU.
In the last two years, the number of California students participating in the Western Undergraduate Exchange has doubled, which might indicate that California students are open to considering other education options.
California should be able to enroll all qualified residents that want to attend a CSU.
That students find it more financially appealing to use the Western Undergraduate Exchange program to leave the state rather than battle impacted classes and large lectures paints a bleak portrait of higher education in California.
The lack of sufficient facilities in California impedes in-state enrollment, causing the state to lose its talented students in a 10-to-1 ratio to other states.
A possible solution to avoid losing students to other states through programs like the Western Undergraduate Exchange is to create tax incentives for California residents who attend California colleges. This may provide an additional incentive for students to pay California tuition instead of another state’s tuition.
Yet this again is another Band-Aid approach. Even with incentives, the current status and appeal of California universities would still detract long-time residents from enrolling in in-state universities.
The only permanent solution to slow California student loss is to restore funding to California universities.
Email Patel at kpatel@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu or tweet us @DBOpinion.