The College of California enrolled a report variety of Californians in fall 2025, based on knowledge launched Thursday, touting the vitality and recognition of a system underneath assault by the Trump administration and grappling with federal funding cuts and state price range belt-tightening.
Greater than 301,000 college students attended one among UC’s 10 campuses over the autumn — the most important quantity in its historical past, with a year-over-year enhance of 1,686 college students. The entire included greater than 200,000 California resident undergraduates, a rise of 1,796 college students.
At 42,232, first-year California undergraduates made up about 80% of the whole 52,611 first-year college students, representing a rise of 264 from 2024.
“These numbers mirror California’s dedication to educational excellence, entry, and innovation, values which have made the College of California the world’s biggest analysis college,” UC President James B. Milliken stated in an announcement. “The worth of a UC diploma is abundantly clear. An funding in UC is the perfect funding in the way forward for our college students, California’s workforce, and the state’s economic system.”
Most race, gender demographics stay steady
Throughout the board, UC campuses largely maintained — with some small good points or dips — enrollment demographics by gender, race and residency standing, together with worldwide college students.
Persevering with a long-term development, new feminine undergraduates outnumbered males, 28,301 to 22,747. Additionally, extra Latino, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Asian American and white first-year undergraduates enrolled than in 2024.
However there have been slight decreases in Black and Native People amongst first-year college students. Throughout the 9 undergraduate campuses — the tenth campus, San Francisco, has solely graduate applications — there have been 2,471 new first-year Black college students, in contrast with 2,493 in 2024. For Native American college students, the determine was 319, in contrast with 346 a yr prior.
Regardless of restrictions on international college students that embrace a full or partial journey ban on 39 nations and elevated vetting, the general UC worldwide pupil enrollment remained comparatively steady. The scrutiny contains social media screenings by U.S. visa authorities that search out pro-Palestinian content material deemed antisemitic.
Total, foreigners in any respect ranges of examine numbered 34,498, a lower of 499. Most of that decline was amongst graduate college students.
Extra worldwide college students amongst new undergraduates
However the variety of new undergraduate internationals — together with transfers — grew by roughly 21% to 7,292.
That development is partially because of UC providing admission to extra internationals as a result of campuses had been uncertain of what number of would enroll amid restrictions. Final yr, 3,263 extra first-year worldwide college students had been supplied seats, a rise of 17% over 2024.
When it launched knowledge in July on admission gives, UC stated that the upper quantity mirrored the “rising uncertainty of their chance of enrollment” and that the share of accepted worldwide college students who select to enroll is usually “considerably decrease” than that of California residents.
UC Berkeley noticed the largest soar in new internationals, from 594 to 1,282. At UCLA, the group elevated by 818 to 1,006. Davis and Irvine noticed slight declines.
Total for all undergraduates, UC Riverside had the most important development — 22,600 to 24,034.
One space of examine fashionable with worldwide graduate college students — pc science — noticed a small decline throughout UC. There have been 5,443 graduate college students enrolled in applications in 2024, in contrast with 5,184 in 2025.
Along with Trump administration restrictions, UC’s concerns in providing seats to extra worldwide college students factored of their greater tuition prices as one other potential impediment. In 2024, the UC Board of Regents accepted a ten% enhance of the “nonresident” tuition charge from $34,200 to $37,602.
UC started including extra out-of-state college students, who pay greater tuition, after funding cuts throughout the Nice Recession. In recent times, underneath public strain and amid state price range offers, it has steadily elevated California admissions and enrollment.
“A UC diploma, that has confirmed to pay dividends, is the gold normal for public greater training,” Han Mi Yoon-Wu, UC’s affiliate vice provost for systemwide undergraduate admissions, stated in an announcement. “We wish each Californian to know {that a} UC diploma is feasible for them. This yr’s enrollment numbers show as soon as once more that the College of California is right here to drive social and financial mobility for all Californians.”
Trump challenges
Thursday’s knowledge launch comes amid a difficult second for UC as admission practices and school reliance on greater tuition from worldwide college students face criticism nationally.
In recent times, UC has touted the racial and ethnic mixture of its enrolled college students as a rising reflection of California demographics. The purpose of pleasure has come regardless of assaults on variety applications nationwide, and the Supreme Courtroom dominated in 2023 that affirmative motion in school admissions was unconstitutional.
In California, Proposition 209, accepted by voters in 1996, banned the consideration of race in admission to public training establishments. Through the years, UC has moved to recruit a variety of scholars and, within the early 2000s, launched two main reforms. One focuses on an admission assure to top-performing college students statewide and at most California excessive faculties. The opposite evaluates candidates utilizing a complete evaluation course of — together with particular skills, how a pupil compares with friends of their highschool, and geographic location — along with grades and coursework.
Trump administration accusations that UC campuses have illegally used race in admissions factored into the federal grant cuts and $1.2-billion high quality imposed on UCLA final yr.
UC has vigorously defended it admissions practices and stated it abides by state and federal legal guidelines.
The cuts and high quality are at present blocked underneath courtroom orders, however UC officers say they’re open to negotiations with the White Home to stop further cuts and investigations.
Nationally, knowledge launched by greater than a dozen elite universities have proven that schools, within the absence of affirmative motion, are enrolling extra low-income college students who’re eligible for Pell Grants. The grants do not need to be repaid.
Princeton’s first-year undergraduate class made historical past this yr for having probably the most low-income college students ever — 1 / 4 are eligible for Pell Grants. Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins and MIT have additionally set the same data during the last two years.
At UC, the general knowledge are completely different, exhibiting a drop in Pell recipients. Throughout campuses, there have been 84,780 recipients within the fall of 2025. In fall 2024, the quantity was 86,888. Just one campus, Riverside, noticed a lift, from 11,045 to 11,778.
