Are things looking slightly better for incoming undergraduates next fall? Perhaps, if early findings are to be believed.

According to the University of California, the preliminary estimate that 2,300 fewer freshman would be admitted to the UC of their choice may have been too high. With last year’s heinous budget crunch, the ten University of California campuses were told to tighten their belts and decrease fall admissions. Most of the campuses did decrease enrollment, while UC Merced and UC Berkeley actually increased their enrolled students.

All in all, about 2,300 fewer college-level students were admitted to the ten campuses last fall, and it was estimated early on that another 2,300 would be denied first-year admittance, come fall 2010. However, according to the University of California newsroom, slightly more students will be admitted this coming fall to one of the prestigious in-state campuses. New data also suggests that a record high of just over 134,000 students applied to the University of California system for fall admittance for 2010, which the University of California calculated to be “an increase of 5.8 percent over last year.” This, the newsroom explained, included a more-than 17% bump in the number of applications to UC Merced, the newest University of California campus.

This means that about 126,682 students applied to enter a UC campus last year, with 2,300 fewer students automatically being selected from that total pot, even before final admission decisions were in. This year, out of 134,029 students, approximately 2,000 fewer will be admitted (according to preliminary estimates). Statistically the numbers look nicer and fatter… and they are. If only 2,000 fewer students are slated to be denied admission immediately, that constitutes an automatic reduction of 1.5%, versus last year’s automatic reduction of 1.82%.

This does not mean that everyone will get into their dream school; this still means that 2,000 fewer students will be getting into a fine UC campus, but it does look like a slight improvement from last year. Here’s looking forward to some even better news, as the year goes on, and the budget (hopefully) improves.