Last year, the Regents of the University of California committed to accepting 5000 additional applications from California residents and plan to increase that number to as many as 10,000 applicants over the next two years.  Changes in response to complaints from California residents that taxpaying residents are not being accepted were made possible last year when the State of California increased funding for the UC campuses. 

According to a UC press bulletin in January 2016, over 206,000 students applied last year to the nine undergraduate campuses. Every UC undergraduate campus received more applications than it did in 2015.

In the midst of this increase in applications, UC schools made the decision to reduce the number of out-of-state applicants because the State of California increased its share of funding. In the past, UC schools made up for financial shortages by accepting more out-of-state applicants who pay higher tuition rates.

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Director of Admissions Lisa Prezkop commented that UC campuses don’t have the space to accommodate every talented student. She also acknowledged that there have been many stories in the press that UC campuses are turning away California students in favor of non-residents but said that was not the real story.

“UC fills every seat funded by the state with a California student.  We have admission goals for California students, and we do a lot of outreach to fill those funded seats with the best students within California,” Prezkop said

During last year’s application process, co-college counselors Michael Heeter and Monica DePriest said they became aware of the fact that the UC schools started to change the amount of in-state applicants they accepted. DePriest said the UC branches have become more conscious of the academic profiles of the students they admit.

“It [is] clear that they [are] making a concerted effort to take more Marlborough students and more Californians,” 
DePriest said.