In the dawning of California’s mid-century promise, when the state stood as a beacon of opportunity amidst the optimism of the 1950s and 1960s, the University of California (UC) system was a monument to a bold and noble vision. For 101 years, from its founding in 1868, it offered free tuition to Californians, a covenant etched into the state’s soul, and a testament to the belief in education.
This was the essence of the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, crafted under the steady hand of Clark Kerr, a visionary who saw in the UC system a “multiversity” that would fling wide its doors to the top 12.5 percent of high school graduates, offering access to knowledge and the promise of upward mobility to all who sought it. It was a time of boundless ambition, when California’s public universities stood as temples of opportunity, their halls filled with the sons and daughters of farmers, teachers, and dreamers, all united by the conviction that education could lift a state and its people to greatness.
Yet, as the decades rolled on, this grand experiment has faltered, its ideals worn thin by the relentless tides of fiscal necessity and a market-driven ethos. Today, the UC system, once a servant of California’s people, has become a machine geared not to educate its own but to court those from afar—out-of-state and international students whose hefty tuition payments prop up a faltering budget—leaving Californians, the very heart of its mission, struggling in the dust of a dream betrayed.
The story begins in the late 1960s, a time of tumult and transformation, when the UC system was still committed to affordability. In 1968, California residents paid a modest $300 annual registration fee, a small price to attend one of the world’s finest public universities, while nonresidents paid $1,200. Tuition, that sacred pact with the people, remained free for Californians, a reflection of the state’s belief in education as a public trust. However, in 1970, a subtle crack appeared in this foundation: an “educational fee” of $150 for undergraduates and $180 for graduate students emerged, a symbolic shift that foreshadowed changes to come.
By 1975–76, resident tuition and fees had climbed to $630, while nonresidents paid $2,130. The numbers grew steadily—$1,296 for residents by 1985–86, $4,354 by 1995–96, $7,434 by 2005–06, and a staggering $14,460 by 2011–12. Nonresident tuition soared even higher, reaching $37,338 by 2011–12 and $48,636 by 2024–25, nearly three times the $14,436 paid by Californians (though the UC states it is $43,634 for all tuition and fees for off-campus students). These figures, cold and precise, tell a story of a system increasingly reliant on the wealth of outsiders to sustain itself, as the state’s own commitment wanes like a fading star.
The root of this transformation lies in the slow, inexorable retreat of California’s public purse. In 1974, the state shouldered 32 percent of the UC’s budget, a robust investment in its future, a pledge to nurture the minds that would build California’s tomorrow. But by 2004–05, that share had dwindled to a mere 16 percent, a decline that left the system gasping for resources.
By 2011, a watershed moment arrived: student tuition revenue, nearly $3 billion, surpassed the state’s contribution of $2.38 billion, a stark reversal of the Master Plan’s intent. The Great Recession of 2008 deepened the wound, as Seija Virtanen, associate director of state budget relations for the UC Office of the President, later reflected, noting that campuses turned to nonresident students to “backfill massive budget cuts.” These students, paying nearly triple the tuition of their in-state peers, became a lifeline for a system starved of state support.
The disparity is starkly evident at UC Riverside. This campus serves a student body rich in diversity—85 percent students of color, many low-income or first-generation—yet generates $6,000 less in revenue per student ($21,000) than the gilded halls of UCLA and UC Berkeley ($29,000), largely because it enrolls fewer nonresidents.
Department chairs at Riverside, in a 2021 letter to UC President Michael Drake and the Board of Regents, decried this as “systemic neglect,” likening it to the redlining of old. This charge resonates with the pain of a system drifting from its egalitarian roots.
The consequences for Californians are etched in the declining admission rates that mark the UC system’s retreat from its founding mission. From 2002 to 2022, as charted by the California Assembly Budget Committee, freshman admission rates for California residents plummeted across nearly every UC campus.
UC Santa Cruz, once a welcoming haven with an 84 percent admission rate in 2002, had an admission rate of only 43 percent by 2022, representing a decline of 41 percentage points. UC Berkeley’s rate fell from 26 percent to 14 percent, and UCLA’s from 25 percent to a mere 9 percent, rendering these flagship campuses among the most selective in the nation.
Even UC Riverside, a campus more accessible to locals, saw its rate drop from 83 percent to 67 percent. UC Irvine and UC San Diego followed suit, with their rates falling from 58 percent and 44 percent in 2002 to 18 percent and 24 percent, respectively, in 2022. These numbers paint a picture of a system growing ever more exclusive, its doors narrowing for the very Californians it was meant to serve.
The UC system’s projections for 2030 suggest growth—23,000 to 33,000 additional students—but with Berkeley, UCLA, and San Diego, campuses flush with nonresident revenue, leading the charge, while Riverside and Merced, the workhorses for in-state students, are left underfunded, expected to absorb 30 to 35 percent of the growth with fewer resources.
This shift has not gone unchallenged. The voices of students have risen in protest, as they did in 2009, when the UC Board of Regents, facing mounting deficits, voted to raise tuition by 32 percent, pushing costs above $10,000 for the first time. Campuses erupted, with students occupying buildings, their banners and chants a cry against a system that seemed to value revenue over access.
In 2011, the Occupy movement swept through UC campuses, its message woven with discontent over budget cuts and soaring tuition. By 2012–13, the financial burden on students was undeniable: 42 percent of UC Berkeley undergraduates relied on loans, averaging $4,867 annually, with debts of $19,468 by graduation.
SOURCES | BIBLIOGRAPHY
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