why UCLA keeps dropping in USNews rankings

Corbett
Sat, 21 Aug 2010 01:29:39 +0000

Per above, UCLA and Cal will have 15% and 23% non-residents in 2010 frosh classes. They aren’t 90+% instaters any more.

Your stats are [accurate[/url]. Clearly UCLA, Cal, and USC are all shifting towards higher percentages of out-of-state students. However, the point is that this shift works to the long-term advantage of USC.

First, USC has no constraints on the number of out-of-staters that it can enroll. The percentage was 48% in [url=http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/0910/FreshmanProfile2009.pdf]Fall 2009](Out of state? Come to UC). UCLA and Cal may have record out-of-state enrollments this year, but at 15% and 23%, USC is still way ahead of them.

And the 48% number at USC is for last year – it may well be higher for Fall 2010. In a few years, Californians will likely be less than 50% of USC’s entering class. There are obvious political reasons for supposing that this is unlikely to happen at UCLA or Cal.

Second, the shift towards non-residents tends to level the playing field in terms of tuition. For residents, the low in-state tuition has historically been an enormous plus for UC schools over USC. But now enrollments are shifting towards non-residents, who see USC as cost-competitive. That’s a big change in perspective.