LOS ANGELES — For thousands of community college students who vie each year to transfer to ultracompetitive UCLA, it sounds like a dream: Complete required coursework, meet a specified grade-point average and earn guaranteed admission to the most popular university in the nation.
That's what Gov. Gavin Newsom directed UCLA to do in his proposed budget last month — or risk losing $20 million in state funding. Newsom, along with legislators and many equity advocates, have been pushing the University of California to simplify its transfer process and widen entry to more state students, especially at UCLA, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Diego — the system's three most selective campuses.
Newsom's proposal blindsided UCLA and set off a scramble to understand the governor's intent. Neither Newsom's office nor the state Department of Finance responded to a request for comment about the directive, which lacked details such as admission targets.
