Proposal Would Require U. of California to Cap Out-of-State Enrollments

A California lawmaker has proposed restricting the ranks of international and out-of-state students who attend institutions in the University of California system, but his plan is already drawing fire from university officials. The California Students First Act would require that nonresidents make up no more than 10 percent of each campus’s freshman class, The New York Times reports.

Michael J. Rubio, a Democrat in the State Senate who is sponsoring the measure, said it would reverse “a disturbing trend of UC’s recruiting unprecedented numbers of out-of-state students over in-state students.” That trend has mounted as state support for public higher education has declined and universities have seen nonresident students, who pay higher tuition, as new sources of revenue.

Robert J. Birgeneau, chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley—where nonresident enrollment accounts for about 20 percent of the student body—opposed the plan in a letter to Mr. Rubio published on Thursday. “Students from other parts of the United States, and from around the world, are valuable members of the Cal community,” he wrote. “In addition to generating funds for educational support and financial aid, they also bring perspectives, experiences, and cultures to the campus, that benefit all students.”