The College of California enrolled a document variety of Californians in fall 2025, in accordance with knowledge launched Thursday, touting the vitality and recognition of a system below assault by the Trump administration and grappling with federal funding cuts and state funds belt-tightening.
Greater than 301,000 college students attended one in all UC’s 10 campuses over the autumn — the most important quantity in its historical past, with a year-over-year improve of 1,686 college students. The overall included greater than 200,000 California resident undergraduates, a rise of 1,796 college students.
At 42,232, first-year California undergraduates made up about 80% of the full 52,611 first-year college students, representing a rise of 264 from 2024.
“These numbers mirror California’s dedication to tutorial excellence, entry, and innovation, values which have made the College of California the world’s biggest analysis college,” UC President James B. Milliken stated in a press release. “The worth of a UC diploma is abundantly clear. An funding in UC is one of the best funding in the way forward for our college students, California’s workforce, and the state’s economic system.”
Most race, gender demographics stay secure
Throughout the board, UC campuses largely maintained — with some small features or dips — enrollment demographics by gender, race and residency standing, together with worldwide college students.
Persevering with a long-term development, new feminine undergraduates outnumbered males, 28,301 to 22,747. Additionally, extra Latino, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Asian American and white first-year undergraduates enrolled than in 2024.
However there have been slight decreases in Black and Native Individuals amongst first-year college students. Throughout the 9 undergraduate campuses — the tenth campus, San Francisco, has solely graduate packages — there have been 2,471 new first-year Black college students, in contrast with 2,493 in 2024. For Native American college students, the determine was 319, in contrast with 346 a 12 months prior.
Regardless of restrictions on overseas college students that embrace a full or partial journey ban on 39 nations and elevated vetting, the general UC worldwide pupil enrollment remained comparatively secure. The scrutiny contains social media screenings by U.S. visa authorities that hunt down pro-Palestinian content material deemed antisemitic.
General, foreigners in any respect ranges of examine numbered 34,498, a lower of 499. Most of that decline was amongst graduate college students.
Extra worldwide college students amongst new undergraduates
However the variety of new undergraduate internationals — together with transfers — grew by roughly 21% to 7,292.
That progress is partly attributable to UC providing admission to extra internationals as a result of campuses have been not sure of what number of would enroll amid restrictions. Final 12 months, 3,263 extra first-year worldwide college students have been provided seats, a rise of 17% over 2024.
When it launched knowledge in July on admission affords, UC stated that the upper quantity mirrored the “rising uncertainty of their probability of enrollment” and that the share of accepted worldwide college students who select to enroll is mostly “considerably decrease” than that of California residents.
UC Berkeley noticed the most important bounce in new internationals, from 594 to 1,282. At UCLA, the group elevated by 818 to 1,006. Davis and Irvine noticed slight declines.
General for all undergraduates, UC Riverside had the most important progress — 22,600 to 24,034.
One space of examine widespread with worldwide graduate college students — pc science — noticed a small decline throughout UC. There have been 5,443 graduate college students enrolled in packages in 2024, in contrast with 5,184 in 2025.
Along with Trump administration restrictions, UC’s issues in providing seats to extra worldwide college students factored of their larger tuition prices as one other potential impediment. In 2024, the UC Board of Regents permitted a ten% improve of the “nonresident” tuition charge from $34,200 to $37,602.
UC started including extra out-of-state college students, who pay larger tuition, after funding cuts throughout the Nice Recession. In recent times, below public stress and amid state funds offers, it has steadily elevated California admissions and enrollment.
“A UC diploma, that has confirmed to pay dividends, is the gold commonplace for public larger schooling,” Han Mi Yoon-Wu, UC’s affiliate vice provost for systemwide undergraduate admissions, stated in a press release. “We would like each Californian to know {that a} UC diploma is feasible for them. This 12 months’s enrollment numbers show as soon as once more that the College of California is right here to drive social and financial mobility for all Californians.”
Trump challenges
Thursday’s knowledge launch comes amid a difficult second for UC as admission practices and school reliance on larger tuition from worldwide college students face criticism nationally.
In recent times, UC has touted the racial and ethnic mixture of its enrolled college students as a rising reflection of California demographics. The purpose of pleasure has come regardless of assaults on range packages nationwide, and the Supreme Courtroom dominated in 2023 that affirmative motion in school admissions was unconstitutional.
In California, Proposition 209, permitted by voters in 1996, banned the consideration of race in admission to public schooling establishments. Through the years, UC has moved to recruit a range of scholars and, within the early 2000s, launched two main reforms. One focuses on an admission assure to top-performing college students statewide and at most California excessive faculties. The opposite evaluates candidates utilizing a complete evaluate course of — together with particular skills, how a pupil compares with friends of their highschool, and geographic location — along with grades and coursework.
Trump administration accusations that UC campuses have illegally used race in admissions factored into the federal grant cuts and $1.2-billion high-quality imposed on UCLA final 12 months.
UC has vigorously defended it admissions practices and stated it abides by state and federal legal guidelines.
The cuts and high-quality are presently blocked below courtroom orders, however UC officers say they’re open to negotiations with the White Home to forestall further cuts and investigations.
Nationally, knowledge launched by greater than a dozen elite universities have proven that faculties, within the absence of affirmative motion, are enrolling extra low-income college students who’re eligible for Pell Grants. The grants shouldn’t have to be repaid.
Princeton’s first-year undergraduate class made historical past this 12 months for having essentially the most low-income college students ever — 1 / 4 are eligible for Pell Grants. Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins and MIT have additionally set the same data over the past two years.
At UC, the general knowledge are completely different, displaying a drop in Pell recipients. Throughout campuses, there have been 84,780 recipients within the fall of 2025. In fall 2024, the quantity was 86,888. Just one campus, Riverside, noticed a lift, from 11,045 to 11,778.
