UC Berkeley says enrollment freeze shouldn’t hurt most California students
As UC Berkeley wrestles with how to welcome as many students as possible this fall, university officials say fewer prospective students may get rejections slips because of a court-ordered enrollment freeze.than initially feared.
But the news won’t be as good for out-of-state, international and graduate students hoping to enter the prestigious university, as priority will be given to those who live in California.
UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said in a statement Friday the university now believes it’ll have to accept 2,629 fewer students for in-person classes than planned after an Alameda County judge ordered it to freeze enrollment at the 2020-21 level. The university first thought it would have to accept 3,050 fewer students.
As a result, 5,370 students are now expected to be enrolled in the upcoming 2022-23 school year, or 500 more than the number attending the current academic year.
The announcement came a day after the California Supreme Court upheld Superior Judge Brad Seligman’s August 2021 ruling that the university must freeze its total enrollment at 42,347 — the same level as in 2020-21, when fewer students than projected attended because of the pandemic.
Seligman imposed the cap after siding with a group of Berkeley residents who sued the university for allegedly violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by failing to adequately address the impacts its planned growth would have on surrounding neighborhoods.
California residents will make up 90% of the nearly 5,000 freshmen enrolled on campus, Mogulof said. In addition, more than 1,000 incoming freshmen students will be admitted to remote-only classes this fall, then switch to on-campus classes in January after mid-ear graduates leave.
About 650 students — primarily those transferring from other colleges — may have their enrollment delayed until January while 200 students continue their studies at UC Berkeley programs in Sacramento and Washington D.C.
After all that shuffling, more than 400 students who would have otherwise received admission letters will lose out completely, according to the university.
Mogulof cautioned that the numbers are still fluid and may change as administrators continue working on solutions in real time and plans evolve to mitigate impacts of the lower court’s ruling.
“To be clear, the harm caused by this court decision extends beyond the students who should be offered an in-person seat in our fall 2022 class,” Mogulof said. “It impacts prospective students generally, our campus operations, and the university’s ability to serve students by meeting the enrollment targets set by the state.”