At least 64 students were wrongly admitted to UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and UCSB on a basis of their family’s social status or wealth.
CALIFORNIA — A California state audit revealed Tuesday that the University of California wrongly admitted at least 64 wealthy or well-connected students over the last decade. At least 22 students were falsely designated as student athletes despite several coaches’ assertion that they lacked talent to compete.
California Auditor Elaine M. Howle reported that the nine-campus system allowed “inappropriate factors” influence admissions, directly identifying administrative malpractice from 2013-14 through 2018-19 at UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara.
At these campuses, the majority of the fraudulently admitted students were white California residents with an annual family income upwards of $150,000.
In the Tuesday audit, UC Berkeley was particularly under fire for wrongfully admitting at least 42 applicants over the last several years based on their connections to donors, and staff while the campus denied admission to more qualified applicants.
One student in particular was accepted as an athlete based on a large donation made to the Berkeley’s athletic department. Despite the coaches’ repeated assessment that the student “lacked the talent to compete.”