Why is UC Santa Barbara growing?
What is the LRDP?
How does UC Santa Barbara compare with other UC's?
What is proposed in the UCSB LRDP?
Why does UC Santa Barbara need an LRDP?
Doesn't UC Santa Barbara already have an LRDP?
Who creates the UC Santa Barbara LRDP? What is the process?
Where will new students, faculty, and staff live?
How can I be involved in the LRDP process?
Why is UC Santa Barbara growing?
UC Santa Barbara is one of the most popular campuses in the University of California system, with applications doubling in the past decade. However, in keeping with the limits agreed to under the last LRDP, on-campus enrollment has been capped at 20,000 for several years. We are proposing to meet increased demand in a managed way, maintaining a one percent annual enrollment increase of 250 students per year to carry us to the year 2025 and a maximum of 25,000 students.
UC Santa Barbara's annual growth mirrors that of the entire Santa Barbara County region (about one percent per year). Due to the campus's location in the Coastal Zone, it is subject to jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission .
The proposed enrollment increase is needed to achieve two important objectives: accommodation of UC Santa Barbara's fair share of the increased enrollment demand in UC and continued rise in the academic excellence of the Santa Barbara campus. We are especially mindful of the need to provide access for students from this region who are interested in enrolling at UC Santa Barbara.
We are expected by the State of California and the UC system to accommodate new generations of students. The number of students seeking admission to the UC system continues to climb. The UCSB LRDP creates a blueprint for accommodating a modest percentage of that demand. We believe the proposed one percent is sensitive to community interests, consistent with regional growth projections and responsive to state demand.
To maintain and advance UC Santa Barbara's position in the top tier of research universities, its academic strengths must continue to develop. Given the effort and resources invested in growing existing programs to their current levels, some managed growth is necessary to complete what has already been a substantial investment. The proportion of graduate students in particular must grow. An additional challenge will be to replace the substantial number of faculty and staff that will be retiring during this next period.