UC admitted its greatest class of California undergraduate students in the fall of 2025, while maintaining a diversified student body and increasing the number of students who are the first generation of their family to go to college, according to preliminary data published on Monday.
The University of California also offered admission to 17% more undergraduate international students, a group that was examined by the Trump administration with increased verification and visa delays.
The strategy to raise international students has taken into account that the UC had increased non-resident tuition fees last year and that the actions of the White House will probably mean that fewer foreigners will decide to study in the United States in the fall. The largest admission pool offers to capture a sufficiently large group of students who register and bring the international values of the diversity of the UC – as well as the chests with the full tuition fees paid by the non -californies residents.
Overall, UC admitted 100,947 first -year California students, up more than 7% compared to last year. The number represents the greatest class admitted to the first public university system in the country while leaders respond to public demands to give more seats to the Californians – despite the attraction of invoicing higher tuition fees to students outside the state during difficult budget times.
The UC is grappling with a freezing of hires, layoffs, deferred state financing, structural deficits at the campus level, potentially costly union contractual negotiations and discussions on tuition fees. Questions are looming on billions of federal subsidies in the midst of the Trump administration claw and multiple investigations from the federal government, survey allegations concerning anti -Semitism, the use of race in admissions and sources of foreign financing.
The system admission rate of the system for first -year students in California increased to 77%, compared to 70% last year. Overall, UC offered seats at 180,382 first -year students and transferred from California and other states and nations.
At the UCLA, the country’s most applied university, the admission rate has been about the same with 9%. The UCLA offered admission to 8,575 first -year candidates in California for the fall of 2025, down more than 200 students compared to last year. As in previous years, the number represented the smallest set of offers among UC campuses.
Monday data focused only on admitted students – not those who will eventually accept the offers and register. Thus, numbers are higher than campus capabilities.
“We continue to experience significant growth – a clear indication that Californians recognize the value of a UC diploma,” said UC outgoing president Michael V. Drake. “Our latest admission figures show that families in our state recognize that UC diplomas are preparing students for a life of significant contributions in their communities and far beyond.”
Drake, a doctor, will leave his role at the end of July to return to research and teaching. James B. Milliken, a former Chancellor of the University of Texas, will replace him.
“The creation of roads to UC education for a wide range of high-level students in California provides advantages not only for these students, but for the state as a whole,” said Han Mi Yoon-Wu, associate vice-disc and executive director of first cycle admissions. “We are proud to offer these exceptional young people a place at the University of California.”
Racial diversity continues to increase
Data published Monday continues UC trends of several years of increased racial diversity, first -generation students, those of low -income families and transfers from Californian community colleges.
In recent years, UC has presented the racial and ethnic mixture of its students admitted as a better reflection of California’s demographic data – even if the national diversity programs have undergone a political and legal attack, and the Supreme Court judged in 2023 that positive action in university admission was unconstitutional.
In California, proposal 209, approved by voters in 1997, prohibited the consideration of the race in admission to public education establishments. Over the years, UC has decided to recruit a diversity of students and in the early 2000s, launched two major reforms. One focuses on a guarantee of admission to the most efficient students in the State and in most California high schools. The other assesses candidates using a complete examination process – including special talents, the way a student compares to the peers of their high school and the geographic location – in addition to ratings and courses.
This year, as the Trump administration criticized the diversity programs of the campus, the UC messaging around admissions was more silent on the breed. A press release on admission data has not referred to the racial composition of admitted students, as it has done in recent years – although racial data has been included in detailed admission tables.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration said it was investigating the UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Irvine for having used the “illegal Dei” in admissions and suggested that the faculty diversity objectives of the system constituted a discrimination of hiring based on the breed. The Ministry of Justice has focused on a “2030 UC capacity plan” which tracks desires to increase the diversity of graduate students and teachers, including 1,100 track teachers.
UC vigorously defended computer admission practices and said that it respects state and federal laws.
Monday UC data has shown an increase in admissions from all racial groups: black, Latin, Amerindian, American Asian, insular Pacific, White and “Unknown”. Growth has occurred despite the total balance sheet of candidates decreasing – from less than 1% – to 249,824.
For the sixth consecutive year, Latinos were the largest group of Californian students admitted in the first year, mainly due to their large number accepted by Merced and Riverside.
In the other at the other first cycle campuses, Americans of Asian origin were the main admitted groups.
Overall, Latinos represented 39% of first -year Californians admitted, followed by Americans of Asian origin at 33%, white students at 18%, from black students to 6%, Amerindians at around 1% – or 604 people – and the Pacific islanders less than 1% with 294 people.
As it was last year – after the national trends in higher education – women admit prevail over men. In UC campuses, 54% of the autumn ads were women, 42% were men. In addition, 1% were non -binary, less than 1% each was transgender men or women, and 3% were of a different or unknown gender identity. UC Berkeley and Davis, where 57% of admissions were women, had the biggest gender divisions.
Although UC’s overall admission data showed an increase in the number of students offered slot machines, campus data vary considerably.
Merced and Riverside accept the most students
Most campuses have only increased admissions from a few hundred or a few thousand students. Most of the growth in admissions has been dominated by UC Merced and UC Riverside.
At Merced, the new UC campus, global admissions increased by more than 60% to 50,662, against 31,585 last year. In Riverside, admissions jumped 38% from 51,345 to 71,069.
Part of the increase reflected targeted recruitment for these campuses, said Yoon-Wu in an interview.
“One of the changes of this year was to focus on students who may not know these two campuses and brought them into it as candidates very early,” she said.
Merced saw the greatest growth in applications this year with an increase of 45% to 51,745. The second increase in the second increase was to riverside, jumping from 18% to 82,904.
The two campuses have developed and are not confronted with the same restrictions on certain high -level CUs which are surrounded by dense urban areas with relatively high housing costs, such as the UCLA and the UC Berkeley.
Riverside, which is being expanded by housing, aims to register 35,000 students by 2035 – an increase of approximately 9,000 compared to last fall. Merced has a registration target of 15,000 by 2030, which would be a growth of around 6,000 compared to last fall.
Merced and Riverside campuses also have the highest admission rates in UC and are among the most diverse with regard to race, first generation status and student income levels.
In addition, campuses also have low rate of return – the percentage of admitted students who choose to register. At Merced, the overall rate of return for first year of first year students was 7%. In Riverside, it was 12%.
At the system level, the number of low -income students and those who are the first in their families to frequent the university was stable of relativity. Low -income students represented 42% of the Admitted first -year Californian class, an increase of 1% compared to last year. First generation students also represented 42%, a decrease of 1%.
The system has produced gains in expanding access to candidates for the transfer of community colleges in California. He offered admission to 27,845 – 5.9% more than last year.
Growth of acceptance outside the state and international
UC began to add more students outside the state, who pay higher tuition fees, after funding for funding during the major recession. In recent years, under public pressure and in the mid -state budget agreements, it has regularly increased admissions and registrations in California.
The latest admission data showed an increase of 2,150 first -year admission offers to 26,191 – 9% growth – students who are residents of other states. At the same time, 3,263 other first -year international students were offered seats, an increase of 17% compared to last year.
UC said the two figures were higher due to “the growing uncertainty of their probability of registration” and noted that the share of students accepted in groups who choose to register is generally “significantly lower” to that of California residents.
Yoon-Wu said that there were “many factors” that contributed to the system that wanted a larger non-resident addition basin. She noted that this cost of being non-californian at the UC had increased. Last fall, the UC Board of Regents approved a 10% increase in “non -resident” tuition fees from $ 34,200 to $ 37,602.
“This year, there is more uncertainty about how people feel about higher education,” said Yoon-Wu, adding that changes in Trump administration are “definitely” a factor in the minds of students. “Fortunately for the University of California, we have proven that obtaining a UC diploma is a precious decision.”