Enhancing Students' Preparation for College

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Fact Sheet

UC Outreach Budget

The University of California is taking significant steps this year to intensify its efforts to prepare more students for admission to the university.

These efforts involve partnering with public schools to improve educational opportunities for students who attend academically disadvantaged high schools and their feeder elementary and middle schools.

UC campuses have established 49 partnerships with high schools and the elementary and middle schools that feed into them. The partnerships are a key part of the university's overall outreach efforts, which call for student-based outreach such as tutoring and mentoring programs and school-based efforts such as teacher professional development, Saturday academies and field trips, and programs directed at increasing parent involvement in education. The university envisions that the new efforts, when combined with existing outreach programs, will increase the number of underrepresented and disadvantaged students eligible for and admitted to UC.

The university's ability to carry out its initiative was enhanced this year by increased support for outreach from the Legislature and governor.

The 1998-99 state budget provides an additional $33.5 million in state support and $5 million from University resources for outreach. Because the budget requires a match of $31 million from public schools, the total amount of new money for outreach is anticipated to reach $69.5 million.

As a result, UC will spend approximately $137 million on outreach in 1998-99, more than double the $65 million spent in 1997-98.

The additional outreach money provides:

$15 million to expand UC's partnerships with K-12 schools, an initiative aiming to improve long-term student performance.
$15 million to expand UC's student-centered academic programs, such as Math, Engineering, Science Achievement, Puente and Early Academic Outreach, which provide tutoring, counseling and enrichment to K-12 students.
Additional funds to expand services promoting UC transfer opportunities to community college students; extend the university's outreach activities in the Central Valley; provide more informational outreach to students, families, teachers and counselors; and evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the outreach effort.