The University of California tried to be strategic about its admissions and enrollment this year, but only partially succeeded, according to statistics released this week. 

Most campuses used waitlists to try to control enrollment this year, and some campuses actively sought to enroll more out-of-state and international students, whose tuition can help subsidize in-state students. 

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The second part of the admissions plan worked. System-wide, 1,518 out-of-state students submitted a statement of intent to register, up from 1,139 last year. The number of international students jumped from 1,046 to 1,517.

The jump is significant, though these groups still represent a small percentage of all UC students: 91.8 percent of enrolled freshmen are California residents. (Last year, 94 percent of freshmen were from California.)

The shift is particularly drastic at Berkeley and UCLA. Berkeley enrolled 529 international students this year, up from 379, and UCLA’s international enrollment jumped from 157 to 364. At Berkeley, out-of-state and international students make up almost 23 percent of the incoming class, nearly doubling last year’s non-resident numbers. 

The twist, however, is that the number of California residents enrolling at UC schools didn’t drop as much as officials had predicted. This year, 34,116 in-state residents enrolled at one of the UC campuses, a drop of only 180 from last year. 

Combined with the increase in non-residents, this means that overall UC enrollment jumped in a year when officials were actually hoping to cut back. The total freshmen enrollment at all campuses this year is 37,151, up from 36,481 last year. UC officials had hoped to enroll slightly less than 33,000 freshmen.

The university has also enrolled 15,720 in-state students transferring from California community colleges. The target enrollment was 13,915.

The university attributes this to surprisingly high yields at several campuses. Though the admissions yield – the number of admitted students who choose to enroll – is down system-wide, it increased at six campuses, most notably UC-Riverside, where the yield for domestic students increased 7.5 percent.

The university says it is too early to know if campuses really will be over-enrolled – final enrollment numbers are made available in January – but it has characterized the yield rates as “unexpectedly high.” Ultimately, only two campuses took students from the waitlists, which were created in case yield was low.

All of the university’s attempts at enrollment-control are aimed at saving money. Fewer students means lower costs for the university, and more non-resident students means the university is bringing in more money. But there are some disadvantages.

Although the percentage of under-represented minorities increased system-wide, the number of Latino students dropped at Berkeley, one of the campuses that made a point of accepting more non-resident students. Officials say this change is not as significant as it looks.

But many are still wary. Officials have suggested increasing the percentage of non-resident students to 10 percent system-wide – it is currently at 8.2 percent – but some politicians and educators have spoken out against this shift. Some experts also suggest that if the university increases the proportion of out-of-state students, the legislature will use this as an excuse to cut the university’s state funding. 

Reach reporter Alexandra Tilsley here.