Thousands of prospective UC Berkeley students might have their admission rescinded. Here’s why

Thousands of prospective UC Berkeley students were told that they might not get to attend the university in the coming academic year, following a court decision ordering the university to maintain enrollment at 2020-21 levels.

The university announced Monday that it has been forced to reduce enrollment by 3,050 students, meaning it must rescind at least 5,100 admission offers — resulting in the loss of at least $57 million in tuition money for UC Berkeley.

“Today, the university appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of California. If left intact, the court’s decision would have a devastating impact on prospective students, university admissions, campus operations, and the university’s ability to serve California students by meeting the enrollment targets set by the state of California,” the university said in a statement.

The university noted that the court decision, handed down by an Alameda County Superior Court judge, froze enrollment to a year that had historically low enrollment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Undergraduate enrollment in 2020-21 dropped dramatically and unexpectedly as students who had previously been enrolled but had not graduated decided to take a semester or a year off. Among graduate students as well, many students deferred enrollment or decided to take time off from their studies,” the university said in a statement.

The court decision came as the result of a lawsuit against the university by a community group called Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods. The group filed a lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act challenging the university’s attempt to build housing for graduate and postdoctoral students.

The group argued that the university should not expand its enrollment when there is a shortage of available housing for students in the area.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman ruled in July of 2021 that the university’s enrollment growth had had a major impact on housing and displacement of existing residents, and also that the increase in students had created an unacceptable level of noise in the nearby neighborhoods, according to the group Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods.

“It’s unfortunate that UC Berkeley has wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs to fight against the efforts of citizens to have them comply with the environmental laws, money that could have been used to educate and build housing for our young people. We firmly believe that UC should not increase enrollment until it creates housing for its new students,” said group president Phil Bokovoy in a statement released following the judge’s decision last summer.

Because UC Berkeley issues its acceptance letters in February and March, the university asked the Court of Appeal to stay the portion of the judgment that suspends enrollment levels. On Feb. 10, the appellate court denied that request.

“So the judgment that freezes enrollment at the low pandemic 2020 level is in effect, and UC is ordered to abide by it,” according to a UC Berkeley statement.

The university has asked the California Supreme Court to issue an emergency stay on the ruling, before the matter is taken up by that court later this year.

This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 11:54 AM.