Surprise: A New Generation of University of California Students

A new report, A New Generation: Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status, Immigration and the Undergraduate Experience at the University of California, is out from the Center for Studies in Higher Education at UC Berkeley. In addition to the major demographic findings shared below, the report covers how students spend their time, their engagement with academics, and the students' own assessment of outcomes and satisfaction. The entire report is available for download on line. The major demographic findings:

• UC is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse in complex ways that reflect major demographic changes in the state, with Chinese students now representing the second largest identifiable racial group in the UC system, followed by Chicano/Latino and then Korean and Vietnamese students. Most of these students come from immigrant families.
• At most campuses, the majority of students are either themselves foreign born or have at least one foreign-born parent; the exceptions are UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara, where less than half of students report they or at least one parent is foreign-born. Approximately 95% of Asian and 88% percent of Latino respondents reported that either they or one of their parents or grandparents were born outside of the United States.
• UC students come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds; for example, 24% report annual parental income under $35,000 and 36% report annual parental income of $100,000 or more.