UCLA Estimates Quake Work at $650 Million : Education: Chancellor Young tells regents money is needed for retrofitting, finishing repairs.

UCLA officials estimated Thursday that they will need $650 million to retrofit the campus for earthquake safety and finish repairs of damage from the Jan. 17 quake.

UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, in an oral report to the UC Board of Regents, said most of the retrofit work, about $500 million worth, is needed on the university’s health sciences complex. The rest of the money would be used to repair and retrofit other campus buildings, including about $38 million to fix damage at historic Royce Hall.

Young said the huge investment, mostly from federal funds, is needed in seven buildings in the medical complex because they are considered essential services. The goal, he said, is for the hospital to be functional in the event of another catastrophe like the earthquake.

“The concern is to see to it that those facilities are usable following an incident like the one we were confronted with last January,” he told the regents. If not, he said, “the buildings could be left unusable to meet the medical emergency.”

Young also said that while the retrofitting was under way, he would favor spending another $500 million to upgrade the medical complex, including razing and rebuilding a number of the buildings. He said many of them were 40 to 50 years old and in need of major improvements.

A more exact price tag on the project should be ready in November, after a team of engineers--financed by the federal government--completes a study of all 9,100 rooms in the health sciences complex. Dr. Raymond G. Schultze, director of the UCLA Medical Center, said that retrofitting the complex could take six to 12 years if it is done while the complex continues to function.

None of the buildings in the medical facility have been closed because of earthquake damage.

Also on Thursday, UC Provost Walter E. Massey delivered bad news on the enrollment and budget fronts. In a report on future enrollment in the UC system, Massey said the universities may not be able to accommodate the expected rise in the number of students applying to colleges in California over the next decade.

“The University of California will be able to continue to admit all eligible students who wish to attend only if the lowest of all the enrollment estimates turns out to be true,” he said.

He said the inability to accommodate undergraduate enrollment demand will put additional pressure on the other California systems, including private colleges and universities.

“If they, too, are short of funds, some students who want to attend higher education may not have the opportunity to do so,” he said.

In a related development, the regents were also told the UC system anticipates the largest enrollment of freshmen in its history, about 22,000. The largest entering class before this year was 21,825 students in 1988.