With the state's higher education system in crisis, more California students are vying for admission at out-of-state universities, applying for seats at campuses from the hills of upstate New York to the snowy flatlands of Ohio to the deserts of Arizona.
University officials at public and private schools across the country are reporting record levels of California applicants to next fall's freshman class — an intellectual flight pattern that worries public-policy experts, who fear students may never return.
The trend comes as the University of California and California State University systems are shedding courses, reducing enrollment and furloughing professors. And many outside schools are boosting
The demand for space in California universities could intensify in the future, concludes a report released this week by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. The commission urged the state to prepare to serve an additional 387,000 students, a 16 percent increase, by 2019.
Meanwhile, the University of Washington in Seattle received 3,830 freshman applications from Californians — a 22 percent increase over last year's 3,120. By comparison, UW's total applicant pool climbed only 9.5 percent. Arizona State University in Tempe received 1,000 more California applications this year than last, a 24 percent increase.
On the other side of the country, the University of
Delaware reported a 36 percent increase in California applications and the University of Virginia, a 24 percent uptick.The surge is not fueled by an extra-large crop of California high school seniors; freshman applications to UC are up 2.4 percent and CSU, 7 percent.
Students and their families say they are being extra-cautious, given limited access to California's top schools. Georgia Thomas, 17, of San Mateo earned a grade-point average over 4.2 — due to A's in her Advanced Placement classes — while attending Aragon High School.
