When this year’s incoming freshman class pours into the UC Merced campus, there won’t be any school lore to soak up, any upperclassmen to dodge in the halls, or any footsteps to follow.

And as much as college will shape these freshmen, they will also shape their college.

That’s because Sept. 5 will mark the official arrival of the University of California’s 10th campus, a rural San Joaquin Valley site 17 uphill years in the making.

With an incoming class of just 1,000 students – a majority of whom are undergraduates – UC Merced’s campus will likely be born a quiet one.

Roughly four times larger in land area than UCLA, Merced will enroll not even 4 percent as many students as its Westwood sister school.

School officials say that’s all for the better.

“We’re so small it’s almost like a private school,” said Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey. “That allows for a lot more interaction with faculty. That’s going to facilitate a lot of research opportunities that will be beyond dish washing.”

As the school grows, UC officials hope the new university – expected to eventually accommodate 25,000 students – will ease the rapidly growing demand for spots at other UCs, including UCLA.

Merced will open its doors as the UC faces record numbers of high school graduates, which combined with state budget cuts has forced the university system to decide between overcrowded campuses and turning away UC-eligible applicants.

“It’s going to be another option for students,” said Brandy Nikaido, regional communications director at the UC Office of the President’s San Joaquin Valley branch.

Merced’s debut marks the UC’s historic arrival into California’s heartland, a region more known for its grapes, tomatoes and asparagus than higher education.

“I have a huge responsibility,” said Jackie Shay, a soon-to-be human biology student from Manhattan Beach. “I really want to help this school become what it wants to be.”

The school’s impact is already being felt in the sleepy agricultural town of Merced, where a population of nearly 75,000 has watched real estate prices soar as the university’s opening draws near.

“The University of California’s 10th campus will spark economic progress in the San Joaquin Valley and will enhance educational access for qualified students throughout the state,” said UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale in a press release.

Many expect the university’s opening to improve education in the region as a whole.

“Having UC Merced here is going to have an effect all the way down to the K-12 level,” said Jennifer Manilay, a cell biology professor.

Manilay, who lived in the Bay Area before moving to Merced, recently enrolled her son and daughter at the local elementary school.

“A lot of the students in this area, they’re not achieving UC eligibility. They might not have as many opportunities at their high school compared to the other parts of the state. The community can come and be exposed to a university atmosphere,” she said.

Nearly half of Merced’s maiden class students are the first from their families to attend college, and 68 percent will receive financial aid.

University officials expect this group’s determination to help get the new college on its feet.

“As first generation, they didn’t have any role models but they made it through high school with the appropriate qualifications,” Tomlinson-Keasey said. “This is a very committed group.”

Merced has already set up three colleges – engineering, natural sciences and social sciences, and humanities and arts – but the university’s academic programs are still in their developmental stages, which will allow students to take a more interdisciplinary approach.

Though its opening was already delayed a year because of the state budget crisis, the gubernatorial recall election, and the discovery of rare fairy shrimp at the university’s original site, Merced won’t have its science and engineering building ready until spring.

The setback that will force engineering students to take a 10-minute shuttle ride off campus to Castle Air Force Base for labs.

Merced faculty expects curriculum heavily based on service learning and research, along with student-initiated extracurriculars.

“One person came to me and said, ‘I’ll come if you let me be editor of the newspaper,’” Tomlinson-Keasey said. “And I said, ‘That’s fine. I don’t have an editor. I don’t even have a newspaper.’”