UC Irvine Enrollment Rises to a High of 19,285

Enrollment at UC Irvine has grown almost 6% this year to a record 19,285 students, the biggest jump since 1986.

UC Irvine’s enrollment is expected to grow by about 1,000 students each year until 2010, when 30,000 students will attend the school.

William H. Parker, associate executive vice chancellor, attributes the growth to more applicants to the school overall and more naming UC Irvine as their first choice for a university.

“We’ve often described ourselves as a teenager or precocious youth,” he said. “Now we’re planning for adulthood.”

The entire UC system is expected to grow by 63,000, to 210,000 students, by 2010 as the age group known as the “baby boom echo,” or “Tidal Wave II,” reaches college age. Much of the expansion will occur at UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC San Diego, along with a new campus in Merced, Parker said. UCLA and UC Berkeley may increase summer school offerings to pick up some of the increase.

This year’s UC Irvine student body includes 3,700 freshmen, 17% more than last year and the highest number of first-year students in the school’s history. Parker noted, though, that despite its record size, this year’s freshmen are the best academically in UC Irvine’s history.

Despite the larger student population, the opening of school this fall went smoothly, Parker said. He said parking was a problem for only a few days, and nearly all students who wanted to live on campus were able to a find room in the dorms.

The enrollment growth is part of the university’s plan to transform UC Irvine into a major research university.