Berkeley’s efforts to rejigger its enrollment plans was triggered by a court order to freeze its enrollment while the campus more thoroughly reviews the impact of its growth on housing, homelessness, and noise.
A California Supreme Court ruling upholding an enrollment cap on UC Berkeley will force the campus to offer hundreds of incoming students admission for online classes for fall or deferred enrollment next spring.
Berkeley’s efforts to rejigger its enrollment plans were triggered by a court order to freeze its enrollment while the campus more thoroughly reviews the impact of its growth on housing, homelessness and noise.
“I’ve really been heartbroken by the amount of opportunity that’s going to be denied to students who should be here, who have worked really, really hard,” he said in an interview Friday. “We had a chance to read some really compelling applications. Students are coming out of some incredibly trying experiences, both from the community college level and at the high school level, and they persevered through that.
Ogundele said he is working with university deans to figure out which students in which majors would be invited to enroll in person, online or delay their start until spring. Given research showing that low-income students tend to do better with in-person instruction, he said such considerations would be “front and center” in planning enrollment options.
UC Berkeley said it would also create an “expanded wait list” in case legislators are able to craft a solution by May 1, when most students select their college.To be clear, the harm caused by this court decision extends beyond the students who should be offered an in-person seat in our fall 2022 class,” a campus statement said. “It impacts prospective students generally, our campus operations and the university’s ability to serve students by meeting the enrollment targets set by the state.