For five consecutive years, the US has been the top destination for Chinese students studying abroad, according to a 2014 report from the Institute of International Education. The 273,439 Chinese mainland students in US universities and colleges during the 2013-14 academic year represented a 16.5 percent increase over the previous year. Overall, they account for 31 percent of all 886,052 international students in the US.

For the many Chinese students who dream of pursuing higher education at one of the branches of the University of California — especially its renowned Berkeley or Los Angeles campuses — a March 3 announcement made by UC President Janet Napolitano came as worrisome news.

Many are asking: Are the changes at UC good or bad news for Chinese applicants? It's kind of hard to tell, actually.

At a legislative hearing in Sacramento, Napolitano said the UC system would not expand enrollment of California freshmen and transfer students this fall unless the State allocates more funding. Meanwhile, the university would set a cap for out-of-state students' admission at its UCLA and UC Berkeley this year.

"Absent additional funding, UC is not in a financial position to absorb more California students beyond those we currently serve," said Napolitano at a State Assembly budget subcommittee on education finance. "As such, campuses have been instructed to keep their enrollment of California students flat, meaning that we are not in a position to add additional California resident students for whom there is no additional state support."

As the nine undergraduate UC campuses were getting ready to send out their acceptance and rejection letters, Napolitano said the university initially would accept the same numbers of Californians as last year, even though applications were up. About 103,000 California high school seniors applied to UC for fall 2015 admission, 3.2 percent more than last year. 

Years of shrinking state budgets have forced UC to rely less on tax revenue and more on tuitions. The system began aggressively increasing the numbers of non-California undergraduates six years ago to offset reductions in state support and a freeze on in-state tuition, acting more and more like a private school.

Research conducted in May by the San Jose Mercury News indicated that the UC system enrolled about 700 more California freshmen in 2013 than in 2009, a 2 percent increase; and nearly 5,000 more freshmen from other states and countries — a 273 percent increase.

In the fall of 2014, an unprecedented 20 percent of the freshman class across UC in 2014 was from outside California, including states like Washington and Texas and foreign countries such as India and China. Among the freshman classes at the nine UC undergraduate campuses, the highest percentages from out of state were at UCLA (30.1 percent), UC Berkeley (29.8 percent), and UC San Diego (28.4 percent).

Out-of-state students pay an additional $23,000 in tuition, providing UC with an estimated $400 million in extra revenue that school officials say helps support higher education in California.

Although UC officials insist that Californians were not being opted out to make room for higher-paying non-residents, the rising number of foreign students has become a hot-button political issue. Many Californian parents and legislators believe this enrollment policy hurts local residents' chances of getting accepted.

In response to their concerns, Napolitano said the level of non-Californians offered admission will be capped next year at UCLA and Berkeley, "where the demand is highest", but she did not announce ceilings for the other seven undergraduate campuses, even though UC San Diego, Davis and Irvine enroll significant numbers of non-Californians.

"I also appreciate the concern about the level of non-resident student enrollment," Napolitano said. "As you know, non-resident enrollment — and the additional tuition those students pay — allow us to enroll more in-state students."

For admission, UC requires that nonresidents have academic records that are stronger than in-state applicants'. Last year, on average, Californians admitted to UC had a 3.61 GPA in high school and a 1822 SAT score, while Americans from other states averaged a 3.76 GPA and scored 175 points higher on the SAT. International students had a 3.71 GPA and scored 105 points higher on the SAT, according to a UC study.

Contact the writer at Junechang@chinadailyusa.com.