Although the regents and the Office of the President are still debating how to handle the number of students coming to the University of California over the next decade, individual campuses are already focused on shaping their own intellectual and physical future, reports Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. Speaking at the Nov. 22 brown-bag forum, the chancellor addressed a year-round calendar proposition from the Legislature, space and why so many differing numbers exist on how many students are expected to arrive here in five and 10 years. "No campus can give you a number for sure," Vanderhoef said, but the UC Davis campus is examining a plan to grow to between 30,000 and 31,000 students by 2010. However, other numbers are also being heard, he added. For instance, in order to handle the Tidal Wave II of 63,000 more undergraduates in the system by 2010, the Office of the President provided planning numbers in June that would have the Davis campus accommodating 26,400 "full-time equivalent" students by 2010. (The Office of the President, however, has still to work out with the UC regents the final campus growth numbers.) Vanderhoef pointed out that some confusion exists between that "full-time equivalent number" from UCOP and its estimated head count of at least 29,000. The full-time equivalent number is lower than the head count because UC Davis students average fewer than the 15 units per quarter that comprise a full-time student load in the UC quarter system. Therefore, it takes more actual students to meet the full-time workload target. Normally, when growth numbers are used, they refer to head count, Vanderhoef said. In regard to the projections beyond 2011, currently the Tidal Wave II is predicted to peak, drop a little and plateau. Single biggest challenge While the campus is focused on hiring enough people to staff that growth, "the single biggest challenge" triggered by the growth will be space, Vanderhoef said. The state is expected to pay for about a quarter of the needed construction costs-about the current proportion of capital improvement funding. The campus will need to find the remaining funding from a variety of private and other governmental sources. "It's a huge challenge, especially with our strong science mix," Vanderhoef said. He pointed out the average cost to build and equip a new lab is just under $400,000 per science faculty member. The Legislature has asked UC to look at a year-round calendar to use the existing space at the campuses during the summer more efficiently to accommodate more students. Vanderhoef said the idea "has its complications," adding that the better tack to take is to have the state indicate the number of students to be accommodated and "let us figure it out." Among those complications is the heavy usage already occurring during the summer on campuses like UC Davis. Vanderhoef said the campus believes it can achieve a summer enrollment of about 20 percent of a typical academic-year quarter. The state Legislature is deciding this budget cycle how much it will pay per student (currently Summer Sessions is self-supporting), and that decision will determine how UC Davis makes its plans, reported Robert Grey, provost and executive vice chancellor.