What Exactly is an Aspirational Graduate Student?

Below is an excerpt from California Watch:

UC commission looks to boost grad student enrollment (excerpt):

Erica Perez, September 2, 2010

A commission that advises the University of California on its long-term goals this week recommended increasing the proportion of graduate students at the UC from 22 percent to 26 percent of the student body.

The 25-member UC Commission on the Future discussed the need for more graduate students at their Aug. 31 saying the move was necessary to serve the university's research mission and educate California's future professors.

Considering the university's tight budget, however, moving to increase graduate students would cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars to recruit the best students with competitive financial aid packages. That makes the commission's goal of increasing graduate student enrollment "purely aspirational," said Daniel Greenstein, the UC's vice provost for academic planning, programs and coordination and a member of the panel.

The recommendation was one of several discussed this week and will be included in a draft report that the commission will review during a meeting Oct. 11.

Full story at http://www.californiawatch.org/watchblog/uc-commission-looks-boost-grad-student-enrollment-4428