On Friday, March 4, 2022, University of California, Berkeley admissions officers revised earlier estimates about reductions in enrollment from over 3000 students to 400 for Fall 2022, forecasting that most of the drop will impact graduate applicants. On March 3, 2022, the California Supreme Court did not grant a stay in the lower Superior Court’s order to maintain enrollment at the same levels of 2020-21 school year.
However, to compensate, Chancellor Carol Christ and Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Catherine P. Koshland pledged to:
…increas[e] online enrollment and/or asking new, incoming students to delay enrollment until January 2023. We will also prioritize California residents for fall in-person undergraduate enrollment, as well as prioritize our commitment to transfer students.
With online enrollment, students can save college costs, while still accessing UC Berkeley educational resources, until on-campus residency is available. Similarly, those who choose to delay enrollment until January 2023, will have an automatic “gap semester” for which to take a break from structured school and craft their own self-directed activities, like travel or work.
On Friday, March 4, 2022, UC Berkeley administrators shared the following details, as published in Higher Ed Dive:
– Over 1,000 incoming first-year students will enroll in an all-remote first semester. Those students will then start in-person studies in January 2023, taking the place of students who graduate after the fall 2022 semester.
– About 650 students, mostly transfers, will enroll in January 2023 instead of fall 2022. They also will be taking the place of fall graduates.
– About 200 continuing students will study in off-campus programs or will be encouraged to complete their studies [translation: graduate early] to open up in-person slots for new students. Off-campus programs include Cal in the Capitol in Sacramento and the UC Washington Center, or UCDC, in Washington, D.C.
– Over 400 new students who would have enrolled will not be enrolling at UC Berkeley. They are mostly graduate students.
Bold emphasis added by Creative Marbles Consultancy
As previously published in Panic in California, UC Berkeley admissions officers will need to reduce the number of acceptances, which is greater than the total number of students necessary to decrease enrollment, as not every student will accept the invitation to join UC Berkeley for the fall.
The California Supreme Court’s decision and the lower Superior Court’s order to cap Fall 2022 enrollment only applies to UC Berkeley, not any other University of California campus.
UC Berkeley staff are expected to send Fall 2022 first year admissions decisions on March 23, 2022.
The experts at Creative Marbles Consultancy can moderate conversations, helping families mold a consensus regarding final college selections.
