A Nov. 7 report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office looking back at UC Merced’s first 20 years finds that the campus in several respects contrasts the rest of the University of California system. The report also tracks mixed progress toward improving the San Joaquin Valley region’s educational and economic outcomes.

Amy DiPierro

EdSource

LAO found that the UC Merced student body differs from those of other UC campuses in several ways. Compared with other UC campuses, UC Merced enrolls a larger percentage of undergraduate students and the largest percentages of resident students, first-generation students and Pell Grant recipients. In addition, UC Merced is the only majority Latino UC campus.

UC Merced’s workforce also differs from peers in the UC system, LAO reported. It has more nontenure-track lecturers and, among tenured or tenure-track faculty, relies more on assistant professors. It also hires more student employees and fewer academic support staff.

(This article originally appeared on EdSource.)

On a per-student basis, LAO reported that UC Merced receives more state funding than other UC general campuses. It is excluded from the “rebenching formula” allocating general fund dollars across UC, because “the campus has not yet reached the point where state support under the rebenching formula, its tuition revenue, and local resources are enough to cover its annual operating expenses,” LAO said.

The LAO report found that while UC Merced has helped the UC system to increase the number of enrollment slots, the campus “has repeatedly failed to meet its campus enrollment targets.” LAO noted that adding students at UC Merced carried “a higher state cost than enrolling additional students at the more established UC campuses.”

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Impact on Regional Economy and Education

LAO additionally examined UC Merced’s relationship to its regional economy. The legislative analyst reported that it is “unclear how much the campus has contributed to overall macroeconomic outcomes” in the San Joaquin Valley, where unemployment and poverty indicators continue to exceed state averages. However, LAO flagged increases in average wages for Merced County state-government workers as well as growth in nonfarm occupations in the county. Finally, LAO found that the region’s educational outcomes continue to lag the state.

“For instance, though college going rates have increased in the San Joaquin Valley, they have not increased as much as the statewide average,” according to the report. “Similarly, the percentage of individuals with at least a bachelor’s degree in Merced County has increased, but also by less than the statewide average.”

UC Merced welcomed its first graduate students in fall 2004 and its first undergraduates a year later.

About the Author

Amy covers higher education. She was previously a data reporter for the Center for Public Integrity. While at Public Integrity, her reporting on students experiencing homelessness received a special citation from the Philip Meyer Journalism Award, which honors journalism using social science research methods. Amy previously reported for The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif. and BusinessDen in Denver, Colo. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Stanford University, where she was a Knight-Hennessy Scholar and contributed to projects at Big Local News.