As University of California officials announced admissions results for the fall, it appeared that increasing competition for seats at the university, rising tuition costs, and continued controversy over the role of race in admissions were conspiring to reduce the slots offered to African American students at UC-Berkeley. At the same time, the state's budget crisis was posing additional barriers to low-income and disadvantaged students seeking an education at the top-ranked public university. Among the effects: fee increases of more than 50 percent over the last three years and elimination of all state funding for university outreach programs that help high school students prepare for college and, once they arrive, stay there. And for the first time in 44 years, UC and California State University both were reneging on their guarantees to admit all students who meet the minimum eligibility requirements.