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Fewer students with low SAT scores were admitted to the University of California in 2004 – especially to UCLA – according to UC admissions data for this year’s freshman class.

The information released by the UC Office of the President showed that in 2004, the UC admitted 26.6 percent fewer students with SAT scores of 1000 or below than the previous year.

UCLA admitted 191 such students, compared with about 350 in 2003. This change represents a difference of 45 percent, which is even more than the systemwide change.

The data comes a year after former Regent Chairman John Moores raised a stir when he released a report stating that the UC had admitted what he said was an inordinate number of students with low SAT scores.

Moores alleged the UC was considering race in its admissions practices and cited the report as evidence.

UC officials have repeatedly denied that the university considers race in admissions.

Officials at both the UC Office of the President and at UCLA said the difference between 2003 and 2004 was due to a smaller total number of accepted students.

“The major difference between those two years (is that) the enrollment number target was less (in 2004),” said Keith Stolzenbach, faculty chairman of UCLA’s admissions committee. “We’ve admitted substantially fewer students.”

But the drop in the number of students scoring 1000 or less on the SAT was far greater than the decrease of total students. The total number of students admitted systemwide dropped by 6.7 percent.

Susan Wilbur, the director of admissions for the UC, attributed the drop in enrollment to state budget cuts.

“We were able to admit fewer students last year because of the state’s enrollment reductions,” she said.

Wilbur added that there were other factors that contributed to the drop in low-SAT score admissions. One was a decrease in applications received, which meant fewer applications in every category – including from students scoring 1000 or less on the SAT.

Another factor was a generally better prepared pool of applicants, she said.

“Of the students that did apply, they were better prepared than the previous year,” Wilbur said.

Fewer students applying overall combined with students submitting more competitive applications contributed to the decrease in students admitted to the UC with SAT scores of 1000 or less.

While she admitted some university faculty would be pleased by the decrease in low-scoring students as a means of improving the caliber of the student body and thus of the university as a whole, Sylvia Hurtado, faculty director of the UCLA Higher Education Institute, warned that a decrease in low-scoring students probably correlates to a decrease in low-income students.

“Students are coming better prepared, but they’re also coming from higher-income backgrounds,” Hurtado said.

Still, this apparent trade-off is mitigated by the comprehensive process undertaken by UC admissions officials, Hurtado added, saying that officials consider not only test scores but also GPAs, high school course load and personal profile information.

“Universities have typically used scores to determine the quality of the student body,” she said. “But there are a number of criteria to determine talent.”

Hurtado said that the UC, as a public institution, has a responsibility not only to improve quality but also to provide adequate access to college-age students – regardless of income level.

“We have to really think very hard about whether we’re providing enough access to lower-income students,” she said.