UC San Diego, already struggling to handle years of explosive growth, saw enrollment leap by nearly 1,900 this fall, pushing its headcount to a record 45,273. The preliminary figures were released Friday by the University of California system, which said a 1,163-student increase in undergraduates accounted for much of the surge. UCSD now has about 35,000 undergraduates, nearly 2,000 more than UC Berkeley. The La Jolla campus also experienced a 270-student increase in its so-called self-supporting graduate program, whose participants do not receive financial help from the state. UCSD now has 1,436 self-supporting students, part of a systemwide program that annually generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the UC. The preliminary fall enrollment numbers typically drop a little later in the year, after the UC refines its early headcount. The new figures don’t reflect how the school intended for things to turn out when it published a long-range plan back in 2018. Enrollment was then expected to top out at 42,400, and not until 2035. But it’s boomed since due to soaring demand by prospective freshmen and transfer students for access to the UC system — driven in part by the growing number of Hispanic high school graduates in California who meet entrance criteria. The campus received roughly 157,000 applications from prospective freshmen for the fall quarter, which began in late September. UCSD has absorbed a large part of the systemwide growth — mainly because it had a lot of open land, which is now in short supply. Enrollment has risen by 16,221 since Pradeep Khosla became chancellor in 2012. Khosla, an engineer, likes to build and wants UCSD to be mentioned in the same breath as the UCLA and Berkeley campuses when it comes to size and reach. He has presided over a multibillion-dollar expansion campaign, much of it devoted to erecting high-rise residential halls amid a shortage of affordable housing in the area. Last month, UCSD opened two skyscrapers — one 23 stories tall, the other 22 — that are among the tallest residential buildings ever built by an American university. And this summer, Khosla got approval from the University of California Board of Regents to create a village that would house up to 6,000 students. The campus has suggested it could feature five or more towers; construction is expected to begin in 2026. The expansion has been criticized by some students who say that Khosla is adding dorms but not providing enough amenities to improve life in them, such as dining halls, recreation facilities and parks. And several faculty members have said they’re spending less time on campus because of crowding caused by the breakneck growth. “I’ve been trying to slow down the growth considerably,” Khosla, 67, told The San Diego Union-Tribune during a 35-minute interview on Thursday. “I need to buy time to really build infrastructure.” It’s unclear whether Khosla will be around to deal with the matter. He is admired by many regents, including Rich Leib of San Diego, and is expected to be considered as a potential successor to UC President Michael Drake, who is retiring.