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University of California at Berkeley officials said today they have offered freshman admission to more than 15,500 high school students for the upcoming school year, which represents a 7.6 percent increase from last year.

More offers were made to first-generation college students and underrepresented minority students than in the previous year, university officials said.

The number of admitted students whose parents did not attend college was 1,939 this fall compared to 1,638 for last fall. In addition, the number of underrepresented minority students, such as American Indians, blacks and Latinos, increased in all categories for a combined 2,881 offers, compared to 2,538 last year, UC Berkeley officials said.

"UC Berkeley continues to attract an outstanding pool of applicants," Amy Jarich, associate vice chancellor and director of undergraduate admissions, said in a statement.

"While we can still only offer admission to a fraction of those students, it's a sign of strong institutional commitment when we can offer seats to more of these academically talented and driven students," Jarich said.

Systemwide, the UC system admitted 1.7 percent fewer freshmen to its nine undergraduate campuses this fall compared to last.

UC officials said that despite the slight decline, the system is still on track to enroll an additional 2,500 California residents this fall. During the two-year period since fall 2015, UC admissions offers to California resident freshmen have increased by 13.2 percent.

In the fall of 2016, a historically large class was admitted to keep up with the three-year goal of enrolling 10,000 additional California undergraduates by fall 2018, UC officials said.

University officials said the total number of freshman admissions for fall 2017, including nonresident students, was 106,011, and for transfer students, the number was 24,685. Some 70,000 of those freshmen are from California and more than 21,000 of the transfer students are also from in the state.

UC officials said more California students are currently enrolled in the UC system than at any point in its history.

"All of us -- in California, and throughout the nation and world -- will be enriched by their talent, curiosity and drive to learn and succeed. The University of California educates the best and the brightest true to our mission of education, research and public service," UC president Janet Napolitano said in a statement.