Academic Senate Re-Hashes Admission Changes, Fiscal Crisis

Paul K. Mueller | March 02, 2009

UC San Diego’s Academic Senate heard an update Tuesday on financial aid, the new University of California admission requirements, and other universities’ responses to the fiscal crisis facing higher education.

Chair Dan Donoghue introduced two committee chairs to discuss these topics of interest to the academic community.

Ed Yu, professor of electrical and computer engineering and chair of the Committee on Admissions, reported on the new Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan – financial aid for lower-income families – and the revised admission requirements recently OK’d by the UC Board of Regents.

Under the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, according to the UC announcement, “undergraduates who are in their first four years of attendance at UC -- or two for California Community College transfer students -- will receive enough scholarship and grant assistance to at least fully cover their systemwide UC fees if they have incomes below the median for California households ($60,000) and meet other basic eligibility requirements for need-based financial aid.” (A description of the Blue and Gold plan is available here.)

The cost of the program, said Yu, would amount to about $3.1 million a year, funded by increasing the amount of new-fee revenue set aside for financial aid from 33 to 36 percent.

Yu’s overview of the revised UC admission guidelines – which will not take effect until 2012 – and the resulting questions and comments from attendees showed that the long review process and university-wide debate have not assuaged all doubts about the changes.

Senators expressed concerns about the subjectivity of the “holistic” review process, the cost to campuses of the reviews, the uncertainty of achieving diversity goals, and the possibility of lowered standards. Yu, who helped guide UC San Diego’s work on the issue, said that, given the kinds of students the university attracts and our internal review processes, the revised requirements would probably have little impact on our campus.
(The new admission guidelines are available here. ) 

Next, the Academic Senate heard Mathew McCubbins, professor of political science and chair of the Committee on Planning and Budget, reported on other universities’ efforts to offset their losses from declining state contributions and the meltdown of their portfolios.

From increasing teaching loads to issuing bonds to shuttering branch campuses, McCubbins said, both public and private universities are struggling to find solutions – with some institutions facing bankruptcy and outright closure. (Details of the state budget and its impact on the UC campuses are available here. )

Prior to the committee chairs’ reports, the senate approved a revision to regulation 525, modifying a guideline for undergraduate instructional apprentices.  Such students will no longer be restricted to lower-level division courses.

With no further reports or unfinished business, the senate adjourned until its next meeting on April 28.