University of California, Los Angeles
PAE-10: Affordability and Access Programs

Some of our available fellowship funding (specifically the Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship and Graduate Opportunity Fellowship programs) is intended to help ensure access to graduate study for students who have experienced significant socioeconomic disadvantages or overcome other major educational or physical disadvantages in their pursuit of higher education. All qualified applications will be considered for these fellowships without regard to gender, color, race, ethnicity or national origin. http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/entsup/fellgrnt.htm

UC's Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan will cover your systemwide fees if you are a California resident whose family earns less than $60,000 a year ($70,000 beginning in 2010-11) and you qualify for financial aid. And this is just the starting point. Blue and Gold students with sufficient financial need can qualify for even more grant aid to help reduce the cost of attending. http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/grants/blue-gold/index.html

The Economic Crisis Response Team (ECRT) was assembled in January 2009 as a response to an ongoing situation on our campus that poses a serious threat to the academic careers of a significant number of our students: the unanticipated onset of extreme financial need. With the continuation of national, state, and university budgetary woes the needs that are brought to our attention range from students occasionally living in their cars to students who feel they must choose between buying books and buying groceries, to students having to contribute their work-study earnings to their families to help with basic needs and even keeping their homes, and many other equally difficult and challenging situations. The team, which meets bi-weekly and takes referrals from around the campus, is composed of representatives from the Office of the Vice Chancellor Student Affairs: Financial Aid, Student Loan Services, Housing, Student and Campus Life, Community Programs Office, Academic Advancement Program, The Bruin Resource Center, and the Graduate Student Resource Center. The ECR Team has specific goals: •Identify undergraduate and graduate students in extraordinary financial crisis; •Coordinate on and off-campus resources to relieve both the immediate and long term financial stressors in these students’ lives; •Make the resource options available to the students as quickly as possible; •Track the intervention; •Preserve confidentiality and respect the students’ dignity; •Reinforce UCLA’s long-term ability to provide resources; and •Help students stay enrolled and graduate. Referrals to the ECR Team can be made by administrative staff, faculty members, concerned peers or by direct contact from the student in need of assistance. All referrals are treated with the utmost confidentiality, and the team will typically begin to develop an individualized solution within 24 hours. The work done by the Team is extremely time and labor intensive, with almost every situation requiring individualized assessment, advising, counseling, and resource structuring. Matters of concern can be directed to the Economic Crisis Response Team coordinator, Serifa Hozdic, at shozdic@saonet.ucla.edu or 310-206-1189, or to the ECR Team’s email, ecr@saonet.ucla.edu.

Student Affairs plays a major role in outreach at UCLA and oversees the following student-centered efforts: Early Academic Outreach Programs (EAOPrograms) is designed to increase the academic competitiveness of students in grades 9-12 for admission to UCLA, to increase the academic competitiveness of prospective applicants to UCLA graduate and professional schools, and to promote UC-eligibility and competitive eligibility among middle school students. The major emphasis of EAOPrograms is on students taking personal responsibility for their academic and personal achievement to be optimal learners. Students in 47 high schools and 32 middle schools receive assistance in developing an individualized academic plan for UC admission; college preparatory information; and test preparation and academic workshops. EAOPrograms include UC Bound, Career-Based Outreach Program, University Express, Community-Based EAOP, and the UCLA Antelope Valley Outreach Partnership. Urban Collaborative is a partnership of three universities (UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona) and three community-based organizations, which was formed in 1999 with the primary goal of increasing postsecondary opportunities and ensuring college access and success among educationally-disadvantaged youth. BruinCorps is an initiative launched during the summer of 1997 in response to a national focus on literacy and community service. Its challenge is to provide synergy between community service and service learning efforts, to build collaboration and partnerships, and to connect community service with instruction and research. BruinCorps programs utilize federal work-study programs, national and state educational incentives, and awards to help prepare children in under-resourced communities by enhancing their skills for educational success. BruinCorps is a member of the AmeriCorps National Network. The Administrative Office of the Vice Chancellor also serves as the Chancellor's liaison with the ADA/504 Compliance Office, ASUCLA, and the Student Fee Advisory Committee.

UCLA has dozens of scholarships for low-income students.

The Academic Advancement Program, known on the UCLA campus as AAP, is the nation's premier student retention program and coordinates with the Office of Parent and Family Programs. AAP has enjoyed a tradition of academic excellence at UCLA for nearly 35 years. The Director of AAP and Associate Vice Provost for Student Diversity provide leadership for the innovative programs available to more than 6,000 UCLA undergraduates from diverse populations who have been historically underserved by higher education. These groups include first-generation college students, students from low-income families, and students from underrepresented populations. AAP promotes academic achievement and excellence through academic advising, collaborative learning workshops, mentoring to prepare for graduate studies and professional schools, summer bridge programs for entering freshmen and transfer students, and scholarships for our students. Additional links: http://www.aap.ucla.edu/ http://www.parents.ucla.edu

UCLA does not target students for outreach based on income and does not fund programs for recruitment.

When a campus has to choose among qualified students, it applies standards that are more demanding than the minimum requirements. Using a process called comprehensive review, admissions officers look beyond the required test scores and grades to evaluate applicants' academic achievements in light of the opportunities available to them and the capacity each student demonstrates to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus. Because the applicant pool is different every year, the level of academic performance necessary will vary.

The Academic Senate's Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity accepts nominations for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award, which is presented to two members of the campus community (one faculty and one student) who have aided in the furtherance of a diverse, impartial, and inclusive academic environment at UCLA. http://www.senate.ucla.edu/DiversityEquityandInclusionAward.htm