LAO on Merced Capital Plan

As blog readers will know from our coverage of Regents' meetings, there is a major public-private partnership under way to expand the UC-Merced campus. The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) has now weighed in on this matter. According to LAO, the legislature must grant approval by April 1. So LAO suggests hearings. Most of its report contains issues to consider. But it gets into the question of overall admissions to UC and to the fact that students may not get into their high-demand campus of choice (so that Merced picks up the overflow). Among the options LAO suggests for legislative consideration:

(The legislature) also could consider setting resident enrollment targets for each UC campus, potentially enabling more students to attend their first choice campus. Any changes such as these to the Master Plan would have significant implications for UC systemwide enrollment, campus enrollment, and state costs moving forward. [page 7]

Full LAO report at http://lao.ca.gov/reports/2016/3349/merced-campus-expansion-020816.pdf