September 20, 1999
Back-to school activities begin on Thursday, September 16, at UC Santa Cruz
First day of instruction is Thursday, September 23
By Jim Burns
The first day of classes in the 1999-2000 school year at UC Santa Cruz is Thursday, September 23. Students, however, began moving into on-campus
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| Nate Keen of Iowa moves into his new digs at Crown College. Photo: Victor Schiffrin |
The following information has been compiled about the 1999-2000 year at UCSC:
ENROLLMENT:
- UCSC is expecting an opening-day enrollment of approximately 11,400 students,
419 more students than were officially enrolled last fall (10,981). Enrollment totals
become official following the third week of instruction.
- Of the 11,400 students, approximately 10,335 are expected to be undergraduates;
1,065 are expected to enroll in graduate studies.
- Of the undergraduates expected to enroll, approximately 3,350 will be new students
(freshmen and transfer students). The total number of new students this year is 82
more than the total number of new students who enrolled last fall (3,268).
- These 3,350 new undergraduates were admitted from among 18,475 applicants for undergraduate admission.
PROFILE OF NEW FRESHMEN:
- Approximately 2,450 of the 3,350 new undergraduates expected will be freshmen.
- Of the total number of freshmen expected, 805 identified themselves as African
American, Chicano, Latino, American Indian, Asian/Asian American, or Filipino/Filipino
American. A three-year summary prepared by the UC Office of the President indicates
that the ethnic profile of incoming freshmen at UCSC has become increasingly diverse
since 1997, when 708 students identified themselves as belonging to one of the six
groups mentioned above. (Fall 1997 was the first quarter in which the University
of California was prohibited from considering ethnicity in admissions decisions.)
- The two most popular majors among freshmen who have already declared are biology
(186) and psychology (181). The Jack Baskin School of Engineering, beginning its
third fall, attracted 212 freshmen who declared in the following majors: computer
science (130), computer engineering (60), electrical engineering (15), and information
systems management (7).
- Nearly one-half (47.9 percent) of the expected freshmen come from two regions
of the state: the San Francisco Bay Area (31.0 percent) and the Monterey Bay-Silicon
Valley (16.9 percent). More than a quarter (26.2 percent) come from the Los Angeles-South
Coast region of the state.
- Among the freshmen expected to enroll at UCSC this fall are 46 Regents Scholars. Among the most academically accomplished high school graduates, these students will receive UC's most prestigious scholarship, which covers all university fees for four years. The number of Regents Scholars who have accepted UCSC's offer to enroll has nearly tripled since 1995, when 16 students enrolled. This year's Regents Scholars have an average grade-point average of 4.2 and average SAT scores of 1428. (Three other new students, transferring to UCSC this fall, qualified for the same scholarship; among new and continuing students, UCSC's student body now includes 176 Regents Scholars.)
HOUSING UCSC STUDENTS:
- To help offset a shortage of rental housing in the surrounding community, UCSC
has increased its housing capacity by 943 bed spaces over the past three years--from
4,088 in fall 1996 to 5,031 this fall. (That total does not include accommodations
for some 250 students who will live in Family Student Housing and 50 who will reside
in the campus's RV Park.)
- Of the 943 bed spaces created in the past three years, 224 were added for this
academic year, including spaces for 100 students who will live in a block of 53 rooms
UCSC has leased from the Holiday Inn on Ocean Street and for 94 students who are
expected to occupy 54 new apartments in the University Town Center on Pacific Avenue.
(An additional 12 bed spaces in the center will be occupied by English Language International
Program students affiliated with UCSC Extension.)
- In all, the campus will be housing 47 percent of its student body in university-sponsored
housing, the highest percentage of any UC campus. (San Diego, next highest, houses
35 percent of its students.)
- In addition to students who will reside in university-sponsored housing, 234
UCSC students are making plans to reside in rooms provided by 21 local motels participating
in the Slug Housing Partnership Program. In its third year, this program links students
with local motels, which rent rooms to students on a monthly basis during the academic
year (when there is less tourist demand for rooms).
- Later in the 1999-2000 academic year, 280 additional on-campus bed spaces (a net increase of 109) will open for students upon the completion of the College Nine Apartments. That project will replace the temporary housing for 171 undergraduates provided nearby in UCSC's Village. (The campus plans to reopen the Village elsewhere on campus next fall.)
NEW PROGRAMS FOR UCSC STUDENTS:
- The Jack Baskin School of Engineering is launching the Department of Electrical
Engineering this fall. The first class of undergraduates majoring in electrical engineering
will be starting their junior year this fall.
- The campus has also launched new undergraduate pathways in environmental biology
(biology major), environmental chemistry (chemistry/biochemistry major), environmental
geology and ocean sciences (earth sciences major), and electronic music (music major).
- This is the first quarter in which UCSC can begin conferring degrees in its newly
approved M.A. program in environmental studies. The new degree--awarded enroute to the Ph.D.-- joins environmental studies'
bachelor's degree and Ph.D. offerings.
- Two new Ph.D. programs--in environmental toxicology and politics--have also been
approved for fall 1999.
- UCSC's Film and Video Department, offering one of the campus's fastest growing majors, has been renamed the Film and Digital Media Department to reflect the changing nature of the field.
ECONOMIC IMPACT:
- The largest employer in Santa Cruz County, UCSC brings in a substantial amount
of money from outside county borders, most of which is spent in the county. During
the 1997-98 year, UCSC was responsible for two-thirds of a billion dollars of economic
activity in Santa Cruz County through spending by its faculty, staff, students, out-of-town
visitors, and the university itself. (The 1997-98 totals are the most current figures
available.)
- Actual spending by the university and its employees, students, and visitors totaled $297.3 million; when calculated by an economic multiplier formula, the total jumps to $666.0 million. (The economic multiplier is a calculation used by economists to measure not just the actual dollars spent, but the value of those dollars when they are spent again. In essence, the economic multiplier shows the ripple effect of each dollar spent in an economy.)
