The need for remedial math education at UC San Diego has soared over the last five years according to a report published this month by the university’s Senate Administration Workgroup on Admissions.
“The number of students who are not able to perform at high school level increased, and even the number of students who can't perform at middle school level increased enormously,” said Akos Rona-Tas, co-chair of the workgroup and a professor of sociology.
In 2020, university data show 1 in 200 incoming students needed remedial math. This year that number is about 1 in 8 students.
The report lists a wide range of factors contributing to this change.
“One of those causes is COVID which had a detrimental effect on K-12 education,” Rona-Tas said.
The report also cites the elimination of SAT and ACT requirements, high school grade inflation and changes to the admissions process as some reasons for the increase.
Rona-Tas said the school isn't designed to help so many students catch up to university standards. There were over 900 students in remedial math courses in fall 2025 according to the report.
“We are basically setting them up for failure. And that's very unfortunate because many of these students would have been much better off going to say community college and taking the transfer route,” he said.
In 2024, 55.6% of the undergraduate student body at UCSD was pursuing a degree in STEM, according to the university. Science, technology, engineering and math majors require mathematics as part of earning a degree.
A math placement test is required for incoming first-year students in those STEM degrees so they can meet the requirements of their chosen major.
This is the test that tracked the growing number of students qualifying for remedial math courses over the past five years.
UCSD student body president William Simpson said the pandemic impacted his own learning.
“I think that impacted a lot of people's foundations of learning math and algebra and then obviously you had increases in (artificial intelligence),” Simpson said. “So you start to be dependent when you see a question — you're more likely to ask AI 'oh can you help me answer it?’”
Simpson is in his third year at UCSD working toward a degree in economics, which requires math.
He didn't take a remedial math course, but he did retake precalculus his freshman year.
“I realized I needed to relearn a lot of the basics and fundamentals of math, right. So I took the precalculus course. It actually wasn't as easy as it sounds. It was actually much harder than the precalculus I took in high school,” Simpson said.
Since then, Simpson said he’s found success in multiple calculus courses. He wants other students to know it’s possible.
“I really don’t want our incoming students to feel like they didn't deserve to get in, to have that imposter syndrome,” he said.
Across the United States, eighth and 12th grade math scores have slightly declined for the past decade, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics known as the Nation’s Report Card.
“UCSD is in some ways the canary in the coal mine,” Rona-Tas said.
The focus on STEM education and a strong math placement test are among the reasons UCSD is ahead of other UC schools in identifying the need for remedial math, Rona Tas said. The workgroup report notes other UC schools, including UC Riverside and UC Davis have also seen increases in remedial math needs.
A lack of math proficiency can create long term problems for students, said Daniel Reinholz, a San Diego State University professor in the College of Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics who studies math education.
“There's a lot of research showing when students start in remedial math, their chances of getting through successfully attaining a STEM career are much, much, much lower,” he said.
This isn't a situation where students forgot how to do math overnight, Reinholz said.
"There's been constraints and strains with funding, the pandemic, social media, technology — all of these things have been building over a long period of time,” he said. “I think we're seeing in this particular place how all of that stuff is coming together to create a perfect storm.”
Some ways to combat declines in math skills are by better supporting K-12 teachers through more planning time and better pay, according to Reinholz. He also said it's important to make the subject less intimidating at a younger age.
But those aren't simple fixes.
“We know students learn better when they have really meaningful , engaging, exciting content — not just drill and practice day after day after day. Things that build on problem solving, things that connect to everyday lives,” Reinholz said.
Fixing this problem is urgent, because math is critically important to learning, Rona-Tas said.
“Teaching math is not just teaching numbers,” he said. “It is also teaching how to think.”
The report has recommendations for how UCSD can prepare for future students. They include changes to assessing math preparedness in admissions, revisiting math requirements for certain majors, and conducting the math placement exam in early summer.
Rona-Tas hopes to see those recommendations implemented early next year.
