California lawmaker proposes limiting out-of-state, foreign students at UCs
By Tanya Caldwell, New York Times
A California lawmaker is proposing to limit the number of international and out-of-state students who can enroll at University of California campuses.
The 10 campuses that make up the U.C. system — including selective universities like Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles — would be prohibited from enrolling more than 10 percent of non-Californians as members of the freshman class. The proposed California Students First Act, which was introduced by Senator Michael J. Rubio, a Democrat from Shafter, Calif., would also cap undergraduate enrollment of nonresidents at 10 percent.
The measure, which was introduced last week, would ensure that California students had a “fair shot” at attending the public universities, Mr. Rubio said, “and not be turned away simply because a wealthy student from the East Coast or abroad shows up with a checkbook in hand.”
In the fall of 2012, international and out-of-state students made up more than 23 percent of the freshman class on U.C. campuses, more than double the 11.5 percent of non-Californians who enrolled in 2009. In contrast, more California students are applying to these state universities, competing for seats on the U.C. system campuses.