MEDIA ADVISORY
Subject: Financial support programs that identify students by race, ethnicity, gender, religion or national origin

Following an inquiry by Regent Ward Connerly, the Office of the President has prepared an inventory of financial support programs administered by UC in which race, ethnicity, gender, national origin and/or religion are taken into consideration.

Findings of the report include:

• Of the total $1.2 billion in aid UC students received in the form of scholarships, fellowships, grants, loans, work-study and assistantships in 1994-95 (the year covered by the report), $32.7 million, or 3 percent, was aid in which race, ethnicity, gender, national origin and/or religion were used in the selection of recipients.
  
  
• Students received $20.1 million in scholarships, fellowships and assistantships and $1.1 million in need-based grants from programs that UC established to promote diversity. Of that total, 74 percent, or $15.6 million went to graduate students in fields in which the proportion of underrepresented minorities is very small. UC had $7.3 million available from gifts and endowments in which the donor specified race, gender, ethnicity, national origin or religion (or a combination thereof) as criterion for recipient selection. UC also assisted in the administration of $4.2 million in funds attentive to race and/or gender from the federal government and private agencies.
  
  
• UC adheres to two principles in administering such aid: to promote diversity and to expand the total amount of student aid available.
  
  
• The financial aid programs UC has established for students from underrepresented groups are one of a number of tools UC uses to complement its admissions practices to ensure that a diverse group of students will not just be admitted, but actually enroll and graduate.
  
  
• UC accepts and administers gifts and bequests in which the donor has specified that the recipients of the funds be members of a particular race, ethnicity, gender, religion and/or national origin. These funds augment the total amount of aid available to all students. This is done by selecting a pool of recipients based on merit and need without regard to race, gender or national origin. Restricted funds are then matched to students who meet the donor's specified requirements and unrestricted funds are used for the remaining recipients.
  
  
• SP 1, the Regents' resolution prohibiting the use of race and gender in admissions, did not address the issue of financial aid. With the implementation of SP 1, these aid programs will play an important role in assuring that UC's diversity goals are achieved.
  

  In addition to the report which may be obtained from News & Communications, available by mail upon request are copies of a legal memorandum by the UC Office of the General Counsel on the legal and policy framework surrounding the university's administration of financial aid programs under which race, ancestry, national origin or gender of a student is considered in making an award, and a campus-by-campus inventory of student aid reviewed in the report.
  

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