Creative Commons/Yong Wen Chua

The UC Berkeley campus June 19, 2007

Questions about the racial and socioeconomic makeup of the University of California’s students and the fairness of its admissions policy dominated the second day of the UC Regents’ bimonthly meeting held this week in San Francisco.

New enrollment data released by UC on Wednesday showed that the proportion of racial minorities has continued to grow while the percentage of white students dipped to a level warranting concern from UC officials — a telling phenomenon that would have been unthinkable decades ago.

Admissions numbers released Wednesday show that across the nine undergraduate campuses, the percentage of African-American students increased from 3.8 to 3.9 percent this year while the percentage of Chicano and Latino students recorded a substantial jump, from 20.9 to 23.1 percent. Students of Asian descent continued to dominate, representing 41 percent of UC students compared to 40.3 percent last year. White students were the only demographic group that fell, from 29.8 to 26.3 percent.

There had been concern that African-American enrollment at UC San Diego would drop following some racially charged incidents on campus last year — most notably an unsavory “Compton Cookout” party thrown by a fraternity. But admissions officials said those fears were not realized.

UC officials argued that financial aid remains robust for the low-income bracket and the families of color who often fall within it.

Robert J. Birgeneau, the Berkeley chancellor, said that the number of students on Pell Grants, a rough measure of “economic diversity,” has increased from 7,400 to 9,300 in the past three years as the university provided a greater amount of financial aid amid a recession and fee hikes.

“It seems counterintuitive that an increase in fees leads to an increased percentage of low-income students,” Birgeneau said, “but that is in fact exactly what happened.”

And yet, the decline in white enrollment may be a worrying sign that struggling middle-class families are being overlooked, some said.

Eddie Island, the chair of the committee on educational policy, said that the white undergraduate population is not, “in years ahead, going to be there in sufficient numbers.”

“Is this part of the affordability question here?” Island asked.

Possibly, said Lawrence H. Pitts, a provost for academic affairs.

“The middle class right now is the most pressured,” Pitts said. “We have managed to cover the low-income students remarkably well, but the middle class are under particular duress in terms of the fee structure.”

The systemwide Blue and Gold Opportunity initiative announced in February 2009, for instance, covers 100 percent of fees for UC families who earn less than $60,000, but the aid drops off steeply for families who earn more than that amount. That threshold was raised to $70,000 for 2010.

In the years since the passage of Proposition 209, the 1996 affirmative-action ban, the group that has benefited the most has been, by far, Asians. Nearly 15 years after its passage, the merits and effects of the measure have reignited debate on campuses in recent months, and on Wednesday, Island seemed discomfited by the fact that the disproportionately swollen ranks of Asian students continued to grow this year.

“What aspect of our admissions construct permits or drives or causes this degree of representation of a particular ethnicity or community?” he asked.

“If you focus on any single criteria, different populations are privileged in selection,” replied Susan Wilbur, UC admission’s director. “If you emphasize grades, girls are going to turn out better. We do know that Asian-Americans are more likely to take tests and they tend to do well, and that’s highly valued in selection.”

Data presented on Wednesday also confirmed an expected increase in out-of-state and international student enrollment while the percentage of students from California fell.

That cross-section of enrollment figures has been scrutinized in recent months by critics who say that the cash-strapped university system is enrolling more out-of-state and foreign students — who pay at least $20,000 more a year compared to residents — at the expense of eligible students from California.

According to data presented on Wednesday, the percentage of students from California fell from 94 percent to 91.8 percent of total freshmen who intend to register for the fall. Out-of-state freshmen have increased to 4.1 percent from 3.1 percent, while the proportion of foreign students jumped from 2.8 percent to 4.1 percent.

University officials on Wednesday flatly denied that there were any qualified California applicants who were denied because the spot went to a higher-paying, out-of-state student. The number of resident students fell because of a falloff in state funding, said Wilbur, the system’s admissions director, while revenue from out-of-state students was in fact subsidizing spots for residents.

"We're not displacing any Californians," Birgeneau said at a press conference.

The chancellor also pledged that he would spend extra tuition from out-of-state students on outreach programs to encourage minority students to apply to UC.