The cost and challenge of getting into college

High school seniors have by now either nailed down their post-graduation plans or are very close to making their final choices.

Those students headed off to college, particularly in California, are entering a landscape that’s far different from the one their parents lived through, or even that of just a few years ago.

The changes represent a mixed bag of good, bad and it remains to be seen.

As the number of college applications overall — and the number of colleges that each student applies to — continues to rise, it should come as no surprise that acceptance rates at many universities keep shrinking.

The University of California behemoth reported that the number of undergraduate applications for the coming fall totaled more than 206,000, up 6.4% from 2015 and the 12th consecutive record-breaking high. All nine undergraduate campuses saw increases.

USC also saw a record number of applicants, 54,100, and had the lowest acceptance rate in its history, at 16.5%.

These figures are bewildering enough on their own, but there have been other developments related to admissions at these coveted California campuses that seem almost purposely designed to tick off a lot of people.

Confirming what many of us already suspected, the state auditor recently revealed that the UC system over the past three years has been admitting more out-of-state students with lower grades and test scores than those of California residents. The admittance of nearly 16,000 nonresidents, who pay significantly higher tuition, is viewed by many as a betrayal of the state’s mandate for the University of California system to primarily serve California students and allow admittance only to those nonresidents on the upper end of the academic range.

UC President Janet Napolitano argued that the higher tuition paid by out-of-state students actually allows the system — which is still grappling with massive budget cuts — to accept more in-state residents, and forestalls the need to hit up California kids for more money.

Indeed, just days after the scathing auditor’s report went public, UC announced preliminary figures showing it had accepted 66,123 California residents for this fall, representing a 14.6% increase from 2015, and that a larger number of spots were given to historically underrepresented minorities. Admissions to nonresidents also rose by about 9%, to 32,799.

Meanwhile, the California State University system, facing its own cash crunch, is spurning tens of thousands of qualified students. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White recently said that although overall enrollment has increased over the years, about 30,000 applicants who met all the admissions requirements were rejected last fall.

Another controversial figure made public recently comes to us from USC, where tuition will be a stratospheric $51,442 in the coming school year, putting it in the running for the most expensive college in the country.

Granted, USC has a generous financial aid program. But it’s another sign that college costs are continuing to balloon, despite growing concerns over student loan debt that’s currently estimated to be more than $1.3 trillion nationwide. There’s also increasing skepticism over whether pricey college degrees are the sound investments we’ve long assumed them to be.

Perhaps these developments help explain why recently released numbers from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center suggest that overall college-enrollment rates have actually declined for the fourth straight year, despite large increases in federal aid for students who can’t afford tuition.

In other news from the college front, there is a significant and growing trend underway for students, parents and educators to consider more deeply and rigorously what a college education should provide.

In the past several years there has been a big push to make educational goals conform more closely to the immediate needs of the marketplace — hence, a focus on producing greater numbers of college graduates with degrees in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math).

At the same time, there is a broad discussion and debate ensuing about the importance of college students balancing their desires for “practical” majors, which they hope will lead to good-paying jobs, with a less obviously marketable education that many believe will pay long-term dividends by one’s enhancing creativity and meaningful thought. In keeping with that theme, one of the other developments gaining momentum in higher education is the growth of specialized degrees and personalized learning experiences tailored to students’ particular interests and goals.

In his annual address to incoming students last year, USC President C. L. Max Nikias summed up his thinking about the purpose and promise of a college education quite eloquently.

“All of the world’s greatest breakthroughs — from timeless works of art to timely innovations — first appeared as a flash of intuition, a flicker of insight, a spark of inspiration,” he said. “We live in an age of imagination where novelty continually remakes the world, and each of you is a spool of ideas whose threads have the potential to reweave the global tapestry.

“Pay attention to those ideas. Follow where they lead. Listen to what they have to teach you.”

Travel and be open to new ideas and experiences, he urged students. Explore classes outside your major. If you’re studying engineering, take a class in art, theater or classics. Learn something new just because it captures your imagination.

Record numbers of applications. Higher costs. More debt. Marketability versus creativity. Where is it all headed?

That’s the remains-to-be-seen part.

PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.