The University of California recently raised the bar for admissions, amid an uproar of protests that its decision will hinder enrollment of disadvantaged students. One of the most controversial changes was to raise the minimum grade point average from 2.8 to 3.0.

Amid the protests, the UC Board of Regents has retreated to citing the need to shrink the eligible pool of students to keep within a shrinking budget. The board has promised to review the new standards after next year, and to loosen restrictions if the raised bar proves to cut too many students. Yet it is equally important to remember that raising standards helps improve the quality of education and is in line with the design of higher education in California.

UC now draws the top 14 percent of the state's high-school graduates. Even with the raised bar, it will continue to draw the top 12.5 percent.

The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education created a stratified system for California's high-school graduates: UC as the place for best and brightest, the California State Universities drawing about one-third, and the California Community Colleges as an "open door." When the Master Plan was adopted, it recommended lowering the number of the state's high-school graduates drawn into both the UC and CSU systems. It tightened the UC standards to draw only the top 12.5 percent, instead of the previous 15 percent. This standard was not meant to be a floor, but a ceiling.

A tiered system makes sense, since students graduate from high school at different rates of preparedness for college. One-third of the regularly admitted freshmen at UC arrive unprepared for college-level writing. More rigorous admissions standards would mean fewer unprepared students at the state's top schools. Remedial work should not be done at the most selective and expensive level of the higher education system.

In fall of 2001, the percentage of freshmen needing remediation ranged from 59 percent at UC Riverside to 16 percent at UCLA. These students are required to enroll in what is now called "Subject A" courses, once known as "bonehead English." This is done at the UC, where the state pays $9,000 for each full-time student. For students on financial aid, taxpayers pick up a tab as high as $14,000 per student -- a costly price to pay for remedial work.

While elementary and high schools are where such work should ideally be done, community colleges make for a more suitable and cost-effective place than the UC system. The CCC spends only $3,950 per full-time student for most precollegiate courses.

California's tiered system is designed so that anyone can take advantage of a college education, yet at the same time preserve the competitiveness of the state's top schools. The more you open up UC admissions, the more the value of a UC degree is watered down. Elite schools such as Stanford and UC Berkeley keep their highly sought-after reputation not only through rigorous academic standards but also with stringent admissions standards. The quality of a school is judged not only by the faculty and academic resources, but also in large part by the quality of its students.

Keeping the UC admissions process competitive is not just a budget issue. It is the only way to ensure that California's students have access to affordable higher education and that those who graduate from the UC continue to hold a degree of national reputation.