Black First-Year Enrollments Dip at Berkeley

In an effort to boost revenues, the University of California system has made an effort to admit more foreign and out-of-state students. This year 3,674 foreign students were admitted and 1,517 have announced their intention to enroll. A year ago 2,697 foreign students were admitted and 1,048 enrolled.

This year 1,408 African-American students have announced their intention to enroll at University of California campuses. This is up from 1,355 a year ago. Blacks make up 4 percent of incoming freshmen, compared to 3.8 percent a year ago.

But at the University of California at Berkeley, the flagship campus of the university system, 119 blacks have indicated they will enroll this fall. This is down from 124 in 2009 and 144 in 2008. Preliminary figures show that blacks will make up 3.2 percent of all freshmen at Berkeley this fall. This is about half the level that prevailed before California banned the consideration of race in admissions decisions at state universities in 1996.

At the highly ranked University of California at Los Angeles, 205 blacks have indicated they will enroll this fall. This is up slightly from a year ago but down from 235 in 2008.

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