Every year we hear about record numbers of students applying to college, and the latest round of statistics is sure to raise anxiety levels once again.

University of California broke a record for the fourth year in a row, receiving 121,005 applications for the fall 2008 term. That’s a nine percent increase in just the last year. Both freshman and transfer applications were up at all nine UC campuses.

The biggest increase was at UC Davis, which had a 15.7 percent increase in applications. Their admit rate went from 58 percent last year to 52 percent this year. Just two years ago, 68 percent of applicants were admitted. Nearly 20,000 students were denied admission this year, and most of them exceeded UC eligibility requirements.

At UCLA, preliminary numbers indicate that 92 percent of admitted students had a grade point average of 4.0 and above. But having a stellar GPA doesn’t guarantee admission, as only 46.82 percent of students with a 4.0 or above were admitted, compared to last year’s 51.1 percent. Test scores are a major factor too. The admit rate was 65.18% for students whose SAT scores were in the 2100-2400 range, but only 25.48% for those who scored between 1800 and 2090. Overall, UCLA’s admit rate at decreased slightly, from 23.3% last year to 22.7% this year.

Berkeley’s applicant pool included nearly 25,000 students with a weighted grade point average of 4.00 or higher. The school had 10,400 admission slots. Clearly, the majority of highly qualified students could not be offered admission. Berkeley’s admit rate was 22 percent.

Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo had a 14th year in a row of record-breaking applications, up from a little less than 34,000 last year to almost 38,000 this year. Yet they admitted 1,100 fewer students this year, because of the 10 percent budget cut that is impacting all California public institutions.

With the current state of the economy, budget cuts may curtail both enrollment growth and services provided at the UC and Cal State campuses for quite a while. The University of California may not be able to continue its longstanding policy of guaranteeing all eligible students a place at one of the UC campuses.

If fees and class sizes increase substantially, the quality and affordability of a UC or Cal State education could be at risk. When administrators try to keep budget cuts from impacting class sizes, they have to make deeper cuts in advising. At a recent meeting with officials from UC Davis, I learned that a terrific career discovery program in the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences will be reduced significantly this year, when it really should be expanded throughout the university.

While the number of high school graduates may be peaking nationwide, applications at California’s public universities are not likely to decrease in the near future. Students who want to be sure they have a place at a UC or Cal State should take more than the minimum courses required for basic eligibility. This means taking a full academic load during senior year. Not what most high school juniors want to hear, but in this time of intense competition at many UC campuses, and the possibility of future budget cuts impacting UC and Cal State University, you can’t afford to slack off senior year.

Of course, the increasing competition isn’t limited to UC, and in my next column, I’ll discuss this year’s admission results at private colleges.