Demand for Campus Continues to Grow
The campus began its eighth academic year with 5,760 undergraduate and graduate students, up nearly 11 percent.
The increase proves that demand for UC Merced grows, despite a difficult economic environment. Space constraints forced the university to limit undergraduate enrollment for the first time ever this year, though graduate enrollment and research have not been affected.
Graduate student enrollment hit 329, an increase of 26.5 percent over last year. Overall, graduate students comprise nearly 6 percent of the student body. The campus's ultimate goal is for graduate enrollment to reach 10 percent of the total student population by 2020.
"Graduate students are integral to our mission as major research university and will help attract increased research funding while enhancing UC Merced’s growing contribution to the San Joaquin Valley, state and society as a whole," said Acting Dean of Graduate Studies Chris Kello. "We made a concerted effort this year and allocated significantly more resources to graduate support to boost the numbers even more in the coming years."