Thinking about a UC for college? Think again

According to numerous sources, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and UC San Diego have all experienced significant overenrollment. The schools are quietly allowing this year’s overenrollment numbers to stand but are planning to admit fewer students in 2019 and 2020 to ensure match or underenrollment until this large wave of students has been absorbed and moved beyond lower-division classes. This is on top of recently published admissions data that show that both UC Berkeley and UCLA admitted not only a smaller percentage of students, but also a smaller number of students overall. Impacting admission rates at these UCs will also inevitably drive up yield at all of the other UCs, so expect all UCs to lower their admission rates and depend on waitlists, if necessary, to fill their classes in 2019 and 2020.

Read full article [here].
by Hollis Bischoff, The Los Altos Town Crier.

UCSD’s enrollment leaps by 2,200, hitting record 38,798

The campus added nearly 2,200 students this fall, pushing enrollment to a record 38,798, a figure that’s far higher than campus executives expected. Enrollment has soared by about 10,600 over the past decade, making UCSD one of the fastest growing schools in the country. The boom has been fueled by population growth in California, and the state’s success in preparing high school students to enter college. The UC system also has been recruiting more transfer students.

Read full article [here].
by Gary Robbins, San Diego Union Tribune.

39,000 health workers announce when they will picket UC medical centers statewide

The largest employee union at the University of California, AFSCME Local 3299, announced Friday that its patient-care technical workers will go on a three-day strike Oct. 23-25 at Sacramento’s UC Davis Medical Center and the four other UC health systems across the state. The job action will involve as many as 39,000 workers statewide, composed of the 15,000 members of AFSCME 3299’s patient-care unit, 9,000 from AFSCME’s service unit and 15,000 research, technical and health-care professionals represented by UPTE-CWA. AFSCME’s service unit and UPTE-CWA voted to strike in sympathy with the patient care workers. Both AFSCME and UPTE-CWA have been negotiating with the UC for more than a year, and their leaders say negotiations have stalled over issues such as outsourcing, pay, retirement benefits and health-care premiums.

Read full article [here].
by Cathie Anderson, The Sacramento Bee.

CSU, struggling to raise graduation rates, eliminates no-credit remedial classes

CSU turned away more qualified applicants than ever last year — 1 in 10 students, or 31,000 people. One reason is that for years, CSU has forced tens of thousands of underprepared freshmen to take remedial, high-school level classes that provide not a single credit toward graduation. No more. For the first time this fall, CSU has disposed of those no-credit classes that not only slowed students down in their march toward graduation, but worked at cross-purposes with the university’s goal of freeing up seats and professors to enroll more students. They believe they’ve come up with a better idea: replacing the remedial classes with college-level courses — for credit — that are still supposed to help lagging students catch up.

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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Newsom called lieutenant governor job dull, but candidates have big plans

Democrats asking voters to elect them Nov. 6 say they have a plan for making the most of the opportunity. Eleni Kounalakis says she would bring a strong voice to the boards the lieutenant governor sits on — particularly the University of California regents and California State University trustees. “I think you can make a full-time job just fighting against higher tuition,” Kounalakis said. “This job is designed to be focused on higher education.” Her opponent, state Sen. Ed Hernandez of West Covina (Los Angeles County), said he sees a way to expand the role the lieutenant governor has as president of the Senate.

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by Melody Gutierrez, The San Francisco Chronicle.

What Stephen Miller’s Proposed Ban On Chinese College Students Means For Higher Ed

The White House engaged in serious discussions to consider the possibility of banning Chinese students from studying at American universities and colleges… The idea that Chinese people living in the United States could be spies for the Chinese government and that the US government should take action to limit their capacity for such espionage is not only ludicrous but also quite literally the same argument that was used to justify Japanese internment camps during World War II. Less chilling, but equally ludicrous, is the secondary justification that was reportedly used by Stephen Miller and his associates — that the “plan would also hurt elite universities whose staff and students have been highly critical of Mr Trump.” Although it’s true that elite universities would almost certainly suffer from this ban, the idea is the political equivalent of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Read full article [here].
by Christopher Rim, Forbes.

UC’s leaders get same 3 percent raises as workers — adds up to a lot more

University of California workers fought for and won a 3 percent raise this year. At the same time, the University of California Board of Regents just authorized 3 percent pay raises for UC’s top brass systemwide, retroactive to July 1 in most cases. And while 3 percent may not seem like much for those on the lower end of the ladder, up top it means big bucks. For example, a 3 percent boost for UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ means her salary bumps up to $547,897 — a nearly $16,000-a-year raise. UC San Francisco Chancellor Sam Hawgood’s salary rose to $844,131, or nearly a $25,000 annual hike.

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by Matier & Ross, The San Francisco Chronicle.

UC nurses approve five-year contract with 15 percent wage increases

The California Nurses Association reported Monday that registered nurses at the University of California have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a five-year contract that includes pay increases totaling 15 percent over the life of the deal. The new contract becomes effective immediately, union officials said, and besides wages, includes clauses that ensured nurses would not be assigned to areas requiring specialty expertise without proper training, granted greater protections for nurses working on a daily contractual basis and required UC facilities to have a comprehensive plan to manage workplace violence. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that hospital workers face a far greater risk of violent incidents than other workers in private industry.

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by Cathie Anderson, The Sacramento Bee.

Editorial: Regents must investigate internal operations, not look the other way

An article published in the Institutional Investor early in September detailed multiple allegations from staffers at the UC investment office of mismanagement by Bachher… The Regents held a closed-door meeting to discuss issues within the investment office last week – and have since not commented on what decisions, if any, were made in that meeting. As valuable as Bachher is to the UC’s investment operation, the regents must establish some form of oversight over the investment office and take preventive steps against future abuses of power. If the allegations against Bachher are proven true, it doesn’t matter how lucrative the University’s investment portfolio is – the employee mistreatment will have been on the Regents’ head.

Read full article [here].
by The Editorial Board, The Daily Bruin.

UC Board of Regents proposes decrease in nonresident student population

Danielle Smith, UC Office of the President spokesperson, said in an email that the state requested the UC system to form a report discussing the potential impact of reducing undergraduate nonresident enrollment, with results to be finalized by April 2019. According to Smith, the analysis will not impact student admissions or tuition for the fall 2019 semester. George Kieffer, the Board of Regents chair, said at the meeting that this plan would only commence “if the state agrees to fund fully the university for the revenue that would be lost… I, like others, believe that the world’s best university ought to have a certain number of nonresident students… At the same time, we have a deep obligation to continue addressing the education needs of Californians within the context of the master plan.”

Read full article [here].
by Sabina Mahavni, The Daily Californian.