Freshmen Are Fewer at UCI, but Total Enrollment Sets Mark

In a statistical breakdown of this fall’s enrollment, UC Irvine has found that there are fewer freshmen this year than last--and more of the freshmen are from Los Angeles County than Orange County.

The decrease in freshmen was planned by the university. “Because of limited classroom, office and parking space, campus administrators made a concerted effort to curtail lower-division growth this year to avoid severe overcrowding,” said Colleen Bentley-Adler, a spokeswoman for the university.

There were 2,449 new freshmen this year, contrasted with 2,975 in the fall of 1986.

While the reduced number of freshmen was planned, it is happenstance that larger numbers of freshmen are coming from Los Angeles County. The statistical breakdown of enrollment showed that for the second straight year, the 1987 Los Angeles County freshmen outnumber Orange County freshmen. There were 885 freshmen from Orange County and 950 from Los Angeles County in the 1987 enrollment.

Another 525 of this year’s UCI freshmen came from other counties in California, and the remaining 89 entering freshmen were from other states and foreign countries.

The breakdown of UCI’S enrollment, as is normal, was made about a month after classes began. At the opening of fall classes in late September, the university said it expected an all-time-high enrollment this year, and with fewer freshmen.

Both predictions proved correct. The university’s official head count, based on fees paid by the third week of classes, showed a record-setting enrollment of 15,139 for this fall’s semester. The current overall total represents 607 students more than the fall of 1986, for an increase of about 4%.

The average age of the 1987 UCI freshmen is 18.5 years, while the average age for all classes, excluding health sciences, is 22.3.

Female first-year students outnumber males, 1,337 to 1,112, but in the overall campus, including all classes, the ratio is nearly equal: 7,014 women to 7,050 men.

“Biological sciences continues as the preferred major of new freshmen,” Bentley-Adler said. “Social sciences is second choice, followed by unaffiliated, physical sciences, engineering, humanities, social ecology and fine arts.”

With a larger student body, UCI hired 45 new faculty members this year. The campus also began a construction program designed to add $300 million in buildings in the next 10 years.

Existing classrooms are overcrowded in many cases, as the university waits for completion of the new buildings, Bentley-Adler said.

“In the meantime,” she said, “the university is continuing to rent space at Edwards Cinema across the street (from the UCI campus), using temporary classroom trailers and extending laboratory hours through the weekends.”

Of the total 15,139 students at UCI this year, 12,369 are undergraduates, 1,695 are graduate students and 1,075 are medical students or residents in health sciences.