University High
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Most similar nearby schools
Woodbridge High School → Corona Del Mar High School → Portola High School → Segerstrom High School → Northwood High School → Compare all similar →Enrollment trend & projection
If this trend holds (-0.7%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~2,350 | -15 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~2,319 | -46 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~2,289 | -76 | $0 |
Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423/ADA). Edit the figure to match your school.
Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25
Two complementary signals: retention (do students stay once enrolled?) and demand (are families choosing the school?). Read against the Orange County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.
Enrollment is shrinking 2.2× the county rate (school -15.4% vs. county -7.1%) with stability (92.6%) near the county median. Two problems compounding — the recruitment side is the higher-leverage starting point.
177 of 2,398 students who enrolled at University High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (7.4% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.
Stability by student group
Nearest peer high schools
Source: California Department of Education, Stability Rate 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 cumulative enrollees so by-design-high-churn continuation schools don't dominate the bottom of the distribution. Cumulative enrollment counts every student on the rolls during the year, so it can exceed peak-day enrollment.
Chronic absenteeism — 2024-25
Share of students missing 10% or more of expected attendance — the leading indicator that often precedes the demand decline shown above. Families disengaging tend to raise absenteeism first, then formally leave. Basis: grades 9–12.
Absenteeism is up 3.9 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.
Source: California Department of Education, Chronic Absenteeism 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 eligible students. CDE didn't publish a usable 2019-20 file (COVID).
SBAC academic outcomes — grade 11, 2025
Share of grade-11 students meeting or exceeding the California standard on Smarter Balanced ELA and Math. This is the academic-readiness signal that pairs with UC Reach (post-grad outcomes), stability (retention), and absenteeism (engagement). Note: statewide median Math is only ~20% — a school at 20% isn't an outlier; one at 45%+ genuinely is.
Source: California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Smarter Balanced research files. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥30 tested students.
Student composition — 2025-26
HS grades 9–12 racial/ethnic composition and program subgroups, from CDE Census Day Enrollment. Two-year shift shown when ≥1 pt — surfaces how the community served has changed since 2023-24.
Race / ethnicity
Program subgroups
Source: California Department of Education, Census Day Enrollment 2025-26 (HS grades 9–12). Δ shown when shift is ≥1 pt since 2023-24. Categories below 0.5% omitted.
District financial profile — Irvine Unified (FY2020)
From 4 years of NCES F-33 filings (the federally-mandated district finance survey). Public schools don't have their own books — the district does. These figures show the financial scale, revenue dependence, instruction-vs-overhead mix, and long-term debt that shape what a school can sustain.
Local: 68.5%
Federal: 4.2%
Source: NCES F-33 Annual Survey of School System Finances (Urban Institute Education Data API). Latest year currently published: FY2020. F-33 is a district-level federal filing — it reflects the Irvine Unified as a whole, not this individual school's books. Revenue mix shows where the district's dollars come from (state aid dominates in CA via LCFF). Instruction share is current expenditure on instruction ÷ total current expenditure (national benchmark ~60%). Long-term debt is end-of-year outstanding (mostly facilities bonds).
+22.8 pp above peer median (44.5%) · Ranked #3 of 11 similar schools
18.5%
44.5%
53.3%
67.3%
Higher than 95% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
University High's UC Reach of 67.3% clears the statewide top-10% cutoff (53.3%) — meaning roughly 67 top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, well above what most California schools achieve.
Against similar schools, University High stands out clearly — the peer-group median is 44.5%.
For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 102.7% — a gap of 35 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, University High's UC Reach is higher than 95% of California high schools (1105 ranked).
University High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot
Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools
- ▸On UC Reach, University High sits in the middle of its similar-school group (ranked #3 of 11): 67% vs. a peer median of 44%.
- ▸Its UC Reach has risen 6 points since 2018.
- ▸Senior-class enrollment is down 15% (663→561 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of -6%.
- ▸At its recent rate (-0.7%/yr), enrollment projects to ~2319 by 2029 — about 46 fewer students than today.
Enrollment projection
That's about 46 fewer students. At per-student funding of $ per student, that's roughly $0 in annual state funding at risk.
Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423 per ADA) — adjust to your district's actual per-pupil figure. Projection extrapolates the recent annual rate — not a forecast of intent.
Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools
| School | Type | Size | UC Reach | Enroll. trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University High | Public | 2365 | 67.3% | -15% |
| Peer-group median | 44.5% | -6% | ||
| Woodbridge High School | Public | 2220 | 45.9% | -8% |
| Corona Del Mar High School | Public | 2117 | 47.8% | -14% |
| Portola High School | Public | 2814 | 67.5% | +56% |
| Segerstrom High School | Public | 2209 | 20.0% | -5% |
| Northwood High School | Public | 2255 | 70.8% | -11% |
| Arnold O Beckman High School | Public | 2711 | 65.9% | +2% |
| Newport Harbor High School | Public | 2044 | 25.5% | +4% |
| Santa Ana High School | Public | 2196 | 13.5% | -4% |
| Irvine High School | Public | 1903 | 43.0% | -14% |
| Aliso Niguel High School | Public | 2534 | 34.4% | -7% |
UC Reach = top-6 UC admits ÷ senior class (can exceed 100% when students are admitted to multiple campuses). Enrollment trend = first-to-latest grade-12 change on file. Similar schools matched on proximity, size, type. Methodology →
Admit rate vs. CA peer average, by campus ⓘ
How does this school's admit rate at each UC compare to other CA schools whose applicant pool averages the same GPA?
| Campus | Applicant GPA (avg) | Actual admit rate | CA peer avg | Δ | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley | 3.97 | 12.0% | 12.2% | -0.2pp | On target |
| UCLA | 3.94 | 8.3% | 9.1% | -0.8pp | On target |
| UC San Diego | 3.93 | 15.7% | 21.6% | -5.9pp | Under |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3.91 | 29.9% | 29.0% | +0.9pp | On target |
| UC Irvine | 3.90 | 30.9% | 22.7% | +8.1pp | Over |
| UC Davis | 3.94 | 36.8% | 32.5% | +4.3pp | On target |
Where University High sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (21.9% actual vs. 20.9% expected).
UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025
Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data — applicant/admit totals may count a student at multiple campuses more than once.
Campus Breakdown — 2025
| Campus | Applicants | Admits | Enrollees | Admit Rate | UC Reach | Yield | Avg GPA (App) | Avg GPA (Adm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley → Elite | 284 | 34 | 13 | 12.0% | 5.9% | 38.2% | 3.97 | 4.23 |
| UCLA → Elite | 302 | 25 | 8 | 8.3% | 4.4% | 32.0% | 3.94 | 4.30 |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 319 | 50 | 13 | 15.7% | 8.7% | 26.0% | 3.93 | 4.22 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 291 | 87 | 5 | 29.9% | 15.2% | 5.7% | 3.91 | 4.22 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 311 | 96 | 34 | 30.9% | 16.8% | 35.4% | 3.90 | 4.17 |
| UC Davis → | 253 | 93 | 17 | 36.8% | 16.3% | 18.3% | 3.94 | 4.16 |