DEMOGRAPHICS, VALUE CREDITED FOR 10-YEAR TREND

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Students surged into a large auditorium at the University of California-Berkeley campus this week, filling all seats and sitting in aisles for a chance to hear the speaker. This was no celebrity-studded special event, just the second day of class for Introduction to Economics, one of many overcrowded classes at UC this year. The lecture is officially closed, limited to 720 students. But an additional 150 came anyway, hopeful that their names might be plucked off the waiting list and added to the roster.

Discovering that the waiting list was full, many asked to be placed on the waiting list for the waiting list.

``This is not good,'' freshman Ben Davis of Ojai said. No. 50 on the list, he knows his prospects aren't promising. ``But I really need this class; it's required for my major.''

To understand the morning's lecture -- the laws of supply and demand -- the students simply needed to look around the room: too many kids and too few spaces.

Growing demand is forcing UC officials to think creatively about ways to accommodate everyone. From auditoriums to dorm rooms to dining halls, campuses are squeezing an unexpectedly large number of students into existing space.

This year's large UC class comes on top of a steady decadelong climb in the number of students that was already stretching the system at the seams. Analysts point to the state's young demographics, the rise in immigrants and the prestige -- and financial bargain -- of a UC degree education.

This year the UC system will educate 50 percent more people than it did a decade ago.

More than 37,000 students have signed statements saying they intend to enroll as UC freshmen this fall, up from about 33,000 last year. An official total won't be known until early October, when each campus completes a census.

The baby ``boomlet'' is one factor; another is the increase in first-generation college applicants, as families recognize the importance of a degree.

``We call it `Tidal Wave 2,' '' said Carol Copperud, acting director of academic strategic planning and analysis. UC growth is expected to continue until 2010, she said.

The challenge is not unique to UC. Across the nation, colleges and universities are being greeted by a bumper crop of freshmen. Places as different as the University of New Hampshire and the University of Nebraska have all been surprised by huge incoming freshman classes and are scrambling to adapt.

Online applications make it easier for students to apply to many campuses and harder for the schools to anticipate exactly how many students will show up. To make matters worse, many students place multiple deposits, committing to several places at once.

``It's hard to predict what one 18-year-old will do,'' said Judy Sakaki, vice chancellor for student affairs at UC-Davis. ``When you multiply that, it gets quite difficult.''

A UC education, always prestigious, is increasingly recognized as one of the best values in higher education. The latest U.S. News and World Report school survey ranked UC-Berkeley first of all public universities. Yet UC, unlike private schools, can't turn applicants away -- every student who meets its eligibility criteria must be accepted.

The UC regents, predicting the boom, constructed the new Merced campus to help ease pressure. But so far it has met a lukewarm response. Instead, students flock in ever-increasing numbers to existing campuses.

``It really is one of the expectations of UC that we will accommodate the best students of California,'' said UC-Santa Cruz spokeswoman Elizabeth Irwin.

But UC's popularity comes at a price.

This week at UC-Davis, extra furniture is being moved into dormitories to accommodate up to 1,000 extra students, as double rooms are converted to triples, and lounges into four-person rooms. Bathrooms will serve up to a dozen students, instead of the usual seven. The campus has added 107 extra classes and dozens of extra advisers. Dining facilities have been expanded. Some classes will be held at night. The new gym stays open until 1 a.m.

Davis freshman Emily Spiller of Soquel hasn't shared a bedroom for years, but was looking forward to life with a roommate. Now she'll have two. All members of an academic honor society, she assumes they'll be quiet, studious and thoughtful. But she's anxious about being perched on the top bunk.

``Maybe I can negotiate; maybe, if they get the closets, I can get the bottom bunk,'' she said. She's willing to hang her clothes from a rod. While already packed, ``I've got to narrow it down,'' she concedes.

Accommodations are better at UC-Santa Cruz, where upperclassmen will be offered rooms at the University Inn, which offers complimentary continental breakfast, free high-speed Internet access, voice mail, HBO, in-room coffee, a heated pool and whirlpool spa. New dorms are planned; under a draft plan, the school expects to enroll 6,000 more students by the year 2020.

While there are enough beds for freshmen at Berkeley, classes are packed, with 100 more freshmen expected this year than last. A limit on lab space and teaching assistants is putting stress on entry-level classes.

``You are now a number,'' quipped Daily Californian columnist Sonja Sharp. ``It has eight digits and you will not survive one day without it. Memorize it, because I hate waiting in line behind you.''

Freshman Liz Nelson of Scotts Valley attends every lecture of Introduction to Cognitive Science, even though she's No. 16 on the waiting list. ``I'm going to keep trying,'' she said.

In vast lecture halls, ``it's easier to doze off, not focus,'' said Andrew Mok of Cupertino. But he's already learned to sit in the front of the room and write down his questions, so he can visit his professor's office later.

Professor Mark Kubinec, who teaches introductory chemistry, says he is constantly seeking new ways to engage what he calls ``the 8 billion freshmen.''

``It's quite a production. We make it entertaining and exciting. Things blow up,'' he says of his 500-student lectures, repeated three times daily. Each student uses a small computer-based wireless keypad to respond to Kubinec's frequent in-class quizzes; answers are tabulated and projected on three large overhead screens. He speaks into a microphone, with stereo speakers. Each lecture is podcast and Webcast.

``Ninety percent of the students, I never meet them,'' Kubinec said. ``The students I do meet, it's because they make the effort. If you take the initiative, the resources here are phenomenal. It is what you make of it.''

Overwhelmed students can always look forward to next summer -- to study. UC's year-round calendar is easing the pressure on campuses, said Copperud, the strategic planner. This summer, more than 65,000 UC students took summer classes. Faculty get cash bonuses if they stay on campus to teach. At Davis, summer students get $300 credit toward their UC education.

Weathering the UC experience offers its own education, said students.

Reassuring anxious freshmen, columnist Sharp offered this advice: ``Remember: If you survive Berkeley, you can survive anything.''

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