More Californians than ever are attending the University of California, and that’s partly because the campuses with the lowest acceptance rates — UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego — have enrolled thousands more in-state students in recent years.
UC’s nine undergraduate campuses sought to enroll more California students under a deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom reached in 2022. Under what Newsom called a multiyear deal, he promised a 5% annual increase in state funding if UC worked to meet a series of goals, including increasing undergraduate enrollment of California residents.
The 2026-27 academic year will be the final year of the pact with Newsom, whose term as governor ends in January.
The agreement also called for increased graduation rates, improved affordability, and a reduction in graduation rate gaps between underrepresented groups, including Black, Latino, and Native American students, and their peers.
Unified communications is not on track to achieve all of the pact’s goals. For example, the four-year graduation rate for students from underrepresented groups has remained stable and wide equity gaps still exist.
But UC managed to increase enrollment from California residents, which, in addition to satisfying the compact, also appeased state lawmakers who have long pushed the system to enroll more in-state students.
UC estimates it will enroll 214,732 California undergraduates in 2025-26, up from 195,861 students in 2021-22, the year before the compact took effect and already above the goal the state has asked UC to achieve by 2026-27.
Several campuses contributed to this increase. UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego each added more than 2,600 California undergraduates between fall 2021 and fall 2025. UC San Diego, which increased Californian enrollment by more than 2,800, saw the largest increase.
On all three campuses, the growth came as California students made up a larger share of new freshmen. At UC Berkeley, for example, an average of more than 5,100 first-year Californians enrolled each year from fall 2022 to fall 2025, compared to about 4,600 between fall 2018 and fall 2021.
At the same time, all three campuses welcomed fewer students from other states and countries. Overall undergraduate enrollment increased by about 1,300 students at Berkeley, by about 1,400 at UCLA and by about 2,100 in San Diego.
On some campuses, enrollment has stabilized, including at UC Merced. In fall 2025, Merced enrolled 129 fewer in-state residents than in fall 2021. Merced officials are hopeful, however, that this fall will bring an increase in students.
It is unclear whether California’s system-wide enrollment growth will continue during the 2026-2027 academic year. UC admitted slightly more Californians for fall 2026, but some campuses admitted fewer, including Berkeley, Davis and San Diego.
Fall classes begin this week at UC Berkeley and UC Merced and in September at the rest of the campuses.
This story was originally published by EdSource.
