CRIMINAL FRAUD

119. By design; every year, the University of California denies approximately 10,000 California resident students (first-time freshmen) in the top 12.5% of their high school graduating class admission to a campus of their choice. These students are then placed in a referral pool and offered UC Merced as their only option. UC Merced is not an "appropriate" placement for any student in the top 12.5% of their high school graduating class. According to the Legislative Analysis Office, 99.1% of the California resident students (first-time freshman) offered UC Merced as their only option declined to enroll. LAO: 2019-20 Budget: February 19, 2019 Higher Education Analysis page 39
120. UC Merced is a "FALSE CHOICE" for California residents students (first-time freshmen in the top 12.5% of their high school graduating class). 

The UC's manipulation of the referral pool for California Residents is a fraud upon the public. 

121. The University of California has broken its promise to California taxpayers and California resident students (first-time freshmen) in the top 12.5% of their high school graduating class. California State Auditor Report #2015-107 at page 35 

122. In 2018 total undergraduate enrollment was 222,493. 

First-time freshmen: 46,677 (21%)

• California Resident: 37,393 (17%)
• Out-of-state: 4,298 (2%) Selling Seats
• International: 4,986 (2%) Selling Seats

New Community College Transfer students: 21,015 (9%)

• California Community College: 19,738 (9%)
• Out-of State: 1,240 (1%) Selling Seats
• International: 37 <1% Selling Seats

Continuing Students: 154,639 (69%) 

• Freshmen (continuing as Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors): 127,553 (57%)
• Transfer Students: 27,086 (12%).

Summary:

California First Time Freshmen: 74%

Freshmen: 17%

Continuing (Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors) 57%

Transfer Students: 21%

New Transfer students (9%)

Continuing Transfer students (12%)

Out of State/International: 6%

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

 Community College Transfer Students are Displacing First-time Freshmen 

87. The Access Guarantee of the University of California Master Plan for Higher Education was specifically meant to benefit California residents who were first-time freshmen graduating from California high schools.

88. The University of California is engaging in affirmative action by decreasing seats for first-time freshmen, while increasing seats for community college transfer students who are accepted with much lower test scores and GPA's.

89. Admissions data shows that the University of California is engaged in affirmative action with the implementation of the University of California’s new Community College Admissions Guarantee and the Office of the President’s Undocumented Students Initiative; which promote the admission of community college transfer students and undocumented students at the expense of seats for California resident students that are first-time freshmen in the top 1/8th (12.5%) of their high-school graduating class, and should be guaranteed seats as a matter of law, based on merit.

"The Master Plan specifies that the University maintain a 60:40 ratio of upper-division to lower-division students, which corresponds to a 2:1 ratio of new California resident freshmen to new California resident transfers. UC has moved closer to that ratio, from 2.3:1 in recent years to an estimated 2.1:1 in 2017–18 (universitywide). The universitywide ratio (excluding UC Merced) is estimated to be 2.0:1 for 2017-18, achieving the systemwide goal for this metric (1.1.3)" Admissions and Enrollment Trends University of California Accountability Report 2018

Excluding Merced?

2:1 Ratio CA resident first-time freshmen student to CA transfer students.

90. In April 2018 Janet Napolitano, President of the University of California and Eloy Ortiz Oakely, UC Regent and Chancelor of the California Community Colleges entered into an MOU to guarantee admission to community college transfer students to the University of California. Enhancing Student Transfer- A Memorandum of Understanding Between the California Community Colleges and the University of California.

Page 1:

“This Agreement has historical precedent and is designed to build on concurrent collaborative efforts. In 1996, UC and the CCC Chancellor’s Office entered into an MOU to increase the enrollment of CCC students at UC. During the period of this agreement (1997-2004), UC increased its enrollment of CCC students by over 50% (exceeding the initial goal by 15 percentage points). The proportion of students from underrepresented groups who enrolled as transfers at UC exceeded that of freshman applicants for the first time in the institution’s history.” [emphasis added]

Moreover, from Fall 2013 to Fall 2017, UC has increased its enrollment of transfer students by 20% with an all-time high transfer enrollment of 20,000 in Fall 2017.”

Page 2:

“The goal of this Agreement is two-fold: increasing inclusive access to a four-year college degree at UC for CCC students and ensuring their academic preparation and support to succeed and earn their degrees in a timely manner. First, it provides a clear pathway for CCC students who wish to transfer to UC, guaranteeing these students an opportunity to obtain a baccalaureate degree if they meet clearly articulated requirements. Second, it aims to ensure that once at UC, these students have taken courses and met the requirements deemed by the faculty to best prepare them to succeed and earn their four-year degree.”

Increasing the number and diversity of students attending a CCC who prepare for and transfer to a UC campus is a strategic priority for the state and the University. For a transfer-affirming culture to flourish, the response of both segments must be a strategic, long-term initiative that will achieve what has always been the goal of California’s investment in public higher education: a high-quality, low cost, postsecondary system that provides access that is inclusive of all Californians who wish to pursue a four-year degree and the associated academic challenges- and discover the educationally transformative qualities of - a four-year college degree.” [emphasis added]

Page 3:

UC President’s Request to UC Academic Senate for a Guarantee of Admission to UC for all Qualified CCC Students

“The President of the University of California shall request of the Academic Senate their recommendations for extending a guarantee of admission to all qualified California Community College transfer students with such guarantee to be in place for students entering the CCCs in Fall 2019. This guarantee does not displace or supplant any existing campus- based admissions guarantees (such as the existing Transfer Admission Guarantees, or TAGSs) but is intended to be additive”. [Emphasis added- this is a false statement].

91. This new class of community college transfer student is transferring prior to Junior year, and will enter at the UC designated as a first-time freshmen.

The data clearly shows that this admissions guarantee will displace first-time freshmen with students that have lower test scores and GPA’s. While there should be a path for California Community College transfer students to enroll at a UC, the “Access Guarantee” of the University of California Master Plan for Higher Education was to ensure that California’s top high school graduates (first-time freshmen) would receive a high-quality, low cost, postsecondary education. First-time freshmen graduating in the top 12.5% of their high school graduating class are now being denied access to the University of California despite being guaranteed a seat as a matter of law, based solely on merit. As of 2019, California first-time freshmen are being admitted on a “space-available basis”; while 10,000 their seats are sold to international and out-of state students for a profit so that the University of California can engage in affirmative action and provide subsidized tuition, housing and jobs to transfer students with much lower GPAs and test scores through the Office of the Presidents Undocumented Student Initiate.

92. The displacement of first-time freshmen entering a UC from California public high schools has been happening since 2009. This is affirmative action.   

… strategic, long-term initiative that will achieve what has always been the goal of California’s investment in public higher education: a high-quality, low cost, postsecondary system that provides access that is inclusive of all Californians.  

The University of California’s admission policies and financial decisions are not inclusive of all Californians, and in fact are discriminatory as evidenced by the data presented in this complaint.

93. Further- the MOU goes on to state that “should the guarantee of admission result in increased transfer enrollment at UC, the UC and CCC leadership will together seek additional enrollment funding from the State- a prerequisite for transfer students’ success at the University.

Why should California taxpayers be asked to pay more to subsidize a public university system that denies access to California’s top students to subsidize out-of-state, international and community college transfer students that are admitted with much lower test scores and GPAs?