Things might get a bit crowded at this already burgeoning campus, with UCLA admitting 1,400 more transfer students this fall than it did this past year.
Sarah Hawkins, a student who attends school in Montana and is currently taking summer classes at UCLA, considered transferring to UCLA for the fall quarter.
“I’m looking for a film major, and this is definitely the place to be for film,” Hawkins said.
Hanan Eisenman, a spokesman for the University of California Office of the President, said the popularity of UC schools may be due to an increase in college-aged population.
Eisenman said in 1999, the University of California projected a growth of about 64,000 students in the next decade.
“With the system already growing by 30,000 students, we will need to amend this projection,” Eisenman added.
This increase in admissions, however, has not affected underrepresented minorities, who actually registered a slight decrease in admission numbers in 2003.
The number of admitted minority transfer students, however, has continued to increase.
One explanation for this increase in minority transfer students, Eisenman said, are the different outreach programs in which UCLA is involved, such as the transfer alliance program.
This program gives community college attendees the opportunity to transfer as third-year students.
Those who complete the program’s requirements are given priority for admission to the College of Letters & Science.
Jo Cong, a third-year classics student, transferred to UCLA this year with the help of the transfer alliance program.
She said by first going to a community college, she was able to save money living at home.
“I graduated high school a year early, and I thought a community college was a good place to start,” Cong said.
The increase in admissions will also affect campus institutions including housing and parking.
Angela Marciano, an associate director of housing and hospitality, said the Housing Administration has been meeting its guarantee to students, which ensures incoming freshmen a two-year housing plan, and transfer students a one-year housing plan.
Marciano said this guarantee has been met since the early 1990s when it went into effect, and new construction projects will also work toward meeting future students’ needs.
“Currently we are involved in the creation of a new housing plan that will offer about 2,000 new beds for undergraduates and 2,000 more for single graduate students,” she said.
The new housing structures will guarantee four years of housing to first-year students and two years of housing to transfer students by 2006, Marciano added.
Fourth-year political science student Louis Morra believes new housing will offer an improvement over the current housing shortage.
“I transferred in as a third year, and didn’t have any trouble with housing,” Morra said. “Now, though, I am having a whole lot of trouble.”
Because he is no longer guaranteed housing, Morra has to look for a place on his own or submit his name to a housing lottery that does not guarantee him a place.
“I didn’t want to go through that,” he added. “I didn’t want to pay a fee to be placed in the lottery system.”