University of California, Merced sees decline in new student fall enrollment

The University of California, Merced saw a decline in new student undergraduate fall enrollment from 2023 to 2024, according to data released by the University of California.

Of the 10 campuses that make up the University of California system, UC Merced is the newest campus which opened in 2005. Fall enrollment data released by the UC system shows new student undergraduate fall enrollment decreased from 2,628 in 2023 to 2,318 in 2024. The 310 fewer students enrolled is the second largest decline in new student undergraduate fall enrollment since 2006 when the university enrolled 341 fewer new undergraduate students in the fall than the previous year.

“Enrollment at UC Merced has held steady in a tough environment due to many factors, including the difficulties encountered by many potential students related to the delayed rollout of the updated FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) enrollment form,” the university said in a statement to the Sun-Star.

The statement went on to say “nearly 65% of UC Merced students are first-generation college students who may be disproportionately impacted by barriers such as those presented when the opportunity to enroll in financial aid was delayed by months. Even with all these challenges, UC Merced students persevered, and 2024 undergraduate enrollment this fall kept constant, the same as 2023, 8,372. We look forward to increasing enrollment next year as applications are already trending significantly higher.”

Of the 2,318 new student undergraduate enrollment, 98.5% are California residents with just 0.7% non-resident international and 0.8% non-resident domestic making up the total 2024 new student fall enrollment. University data shows that 51% of the 2024 new student undergraduate enrollment are Hispanic/Latino(a), 25.6% Asian, 9.8% African American, 9.7% White, 1.5% Domestic unknown, one percent international, 0.9% American Indian and 0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, according to the data.

Of the 9,110 students enrolled at UC Merced for the fall 2024 term, 95.7% of the students are California residents.

This story was originally published January 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM.