<p>Back in the 1980s, when UC was much better funded, Berkeley’s four year graduation rate was well under 50%. At that time, it was much less selective, and the smaller cost of attendance did not provide as much financial incentive to get done quickly (and also enabled part time “working one’s way through college” more easily).</p>
<p>The lower selectivity meant, among other things, that over half (versus under 10% now) of entering freshmen were placed into remedial English composition courses (which, at the time, were given fewer units of credit than they were counted for course load scheduling). In addition, it likely also meant that a greater percentage of students were unable to handle nominal full time course loads of 15 units per semester, so many took the minimum of 12 or 13 units per semester.</p>