About 200 fewer students, but more new freshmen, are expected to register next week at the University of California, Davis, than did last fall. A student body of 22,698 is anticipated, down from last fall's 22,889. Enrollment has dropped gradually each year since fall 1990's high of 23,898. Undergraduate enrollment is expected to decline by 165, but 156 more new freshmen likely will register. Thirteen fewer new transfer students and 29 fewer new graduate students are expected. The reduced enrollments are the result of continued careful planning after several years of higher-than-desired enrollments and after continuing shortfalls in state funding. "Despite eroded state funding and the continuing loss of faculty to early retirement, we expect students will have no difficulty in putting together a 15-credit load -- the average number of courses per quarter that students need to graduate within four years," said UC Davis Provost Larry Vanderhoef. "But as we anticipate yet another early retirement program and further cuts to our instructional budget, we're very concerned about our continuing ability to offer those needed classes. The faculty and administration will work closely in the year ahead to bring degree requirements and teaching workloads into line with fiscal reality." Here's a snapshot of what this fall's students will find when they arrive next week: • Course availability. Students generally will find a wide range of courses available, according to Carol Wall, associate dean of the College of Letters and Science. "Across the campus, department chairs and program directors have made every effort to make courses available to students where they are needed," Wall said. "We continue to have faculty members who are delaying sabbatical leaves and who are assuming additional teaching responsibilities." A new computerized system has streamlined enrollment and forced a more equitable distribution of courses across the student body. Students' first pass through the system permitted them to enroll in a maximum of 13.5 units (average load is 13-14 units) and to know instantly if a class was open. Students now adjusting their schedules or adding additional courses are finding more openings than in the fall of 1991 or 1992. For instance, in Letters and Science and in the Division of Biological Sciences, where enrollment pressures traditionally are the greatest, 254 lower division courses and 301 upper division courses have openings. Last year at this time, seats were available in 234 lower division and 233 upper division courses. Expanding class size may account for some of those additional seats, Wall says, as does the limit on the number of units permitted students in "Pass I" of the registration process. She notes that the upper division courses that add richness to the curriculum are also in greater supply this fall. English composition courses, historically overenrolled, now have openings, due in large part to an agreement that Sacramento City College faculty will teach remedial English on campus beginning this fall. • Financial aid. Approximately $91 million (up from $81.4 million last year) in financial aid is expected to be awarded to some 12,500 students (12,518 last year), helping offset a 23 percent increase in fees this fall. Scholarship assistance has remained constant, with $7.18 million awarded in 1991-92 and $7.15 million in 1992-93. Grants grew from $28.9 million to $33.8 million; loans from $30.8 million to $33.8 million. Work-study funding increased from $2.1 million to $2.4 million. • Housing. All the undergraduate residence halls are full, with a waiting list of about 30 students. Family housing is also full. Sixty vacancies exist in Leach Hall and five units are empty in the Atriums, both residential facilities for graduate students. • Building construction and renovation. Renovation of the north courtyard of the Memorial Union complex has been completed, offering a new front door to the north end of campus. The design of the courtyard makes the space an "environmental indicator" that includes sculptural wind chimes, deciduous trees and plants that flower or change color with the seasons, and tables and chairs that cast changing shadow patterns as the sun moves across the sky. The courtyard is the final product of the $12.7 million Memorial Union expansion project that began three years ago. The entire renovation, including the $491,000 courtyard project, was funded by a 1987 bond measure approved by UC Davis students. Construction continues on the half-completed Social Sciences and Humanities Building, which will include classrooms, computer teaching laboratories, offices, conference rooms and seven research and library/study rooms. The north garden of Shields Library was finished this month, completing the landscaping project that blends the library's old wing with the new. • Parking and transportation. This year the campus's parking system, entirely funded by user fees, should again be able to handle parking demand, according to transportation and parking manager Brodie Hamilton. The recent construction of an 830-space Quad District parking structure added 250 spaces in the area of the Memorial Union, and a parking lot at Putah Creek Lodge will add 60 spaces later this year. Budget cuts have forced the suspension of the intracampus and the Research Park-Childs Road shuttles but service between the campus and the medical center in Sacramento will continue. Unitrans buses also will continue to transport riders to and from the campus. Bike-riders will find several hundred more high-security bike racks, with an additional 350 to be installed this fall. Bicycle traffic school will also be offered to ticketed bikers, enabling them to relearn the rules of the road while reducing their fines.