UC Merced reports highest-ever enrollment

The number of students enrolled at UC Merced this fall climbed to another all-time high of 6,685 students – an increase of 6.7 percent over last year, the university reported Thursday.

The current student body includes 1,790 first-year students, up 15.4 percent from fall 2014, according to statistics from the university’s Institutional Research and Decision Support. This year’s freshman class also boasts a high school grade-point average of 3.56, the highest of any incoming class in the campus’s 10-year history, according to the university.

UC Merced saw a record number of would-be undergraduate applications, with 21,472 people applying to become Bobcats, up 15 percent from the prior year, which was the highest jump in the University of California system. Admissions were limited for the third straight year by space constraints, officials said.

“Our record applications and enrollment demonstrate the need to expand facilities significantly to accommodate the demand for our innovative campus,” Chancellor Dorothy Leland said in a statement. “The 2020 Project proposal will address this issue as quickly and cost-effectively as possible to help us reach our goals.”

The 2020 Project is what the university is calling its next phase of growth, a $1 billion expansion that will double the campus’s footprint and accommodate 10,000 students. Construction on the first phase will wrap up when the school finishes Classroom and Office Building 2, a 77,000-square-foot structure expected to open in April.

The census, compiled annually during the third week of school, also counted a new high mark for graduate students, with 448 enrolled this fall, up 16.7 percent from last year. The number of graduate applications to UC Merced rose 20 percent from 2014, to 610.

The campus continues to lead the UC system in the percentage of students from underrepresented minority groups, first-generation college students and students from low-income families. Recently, UC Merced ranked as the 12th-most-diverse college in the country, according to BestColleges.com, an online resource for prospective college students, which looked at 1,700 institutions.

“Diversity enriches our research and academic missions,” Charles Nies, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a news release. “We have remained committed to creating a campus that welcomes diversity and to increasing educational access for the students in the San Joaquin Valley region and across California.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 10:31 AM with the headline "UC Merced reports highest-ever enrollment."