A stunning report from UC San Diego has exposed a dramatic collapse in academic readiness that should alarm anyone who cares about California’s education system. The numbers are jaw-dropping: between 2020 and 2025, the share of incoming freshmen requiring remedial math instruction for skills below middle school level surged nearly thirtyfold—from about 1 in 100 students to roughly 1 in 8.
The 54-page report, released November 6 by the university’s Senate-Administration Working Group on Admissions, paints a troubling picture. According to the report, these students arrive with solid high school math grades—many sporting 4.0 GPAs—yet can’t handle arithmetic that elementary schoolers should know. In 2024, students in the remedial Math 2 course averaged a 3.65 math GPA, an A-minus.
The reality check came through placement testing. When UCSD’s math department assessed Fall 2023 students in remedial courses, the results were sobering: 25% couldn’t solve “7 + 2 = ___ + 6,” and 61% couldn’t round 374,518 to the nearest hundred. These aren’t college-level concepts—they’re grade school fundamentals.
How Did We Get Here?
Inside Higher Ed reports that UCSD’s problem mirrors issues across the UC system, though San Diego’s situation is “significantly worse” than other campuses. While about half of UC campuses saw remedial math enrollments double or triple between 2019 and 2024, UCSD experienced a tenfold increase…