UC San Diego Chancellor to Join Leadership from all 10 UC Campuses at Oct. 17 ‘Achieve UC’ Event

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The University of California, San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla will be joining higher education leadership from all 10 UC campuses to deliver the message to high school students across the state that college is attainable.

Photos by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

The UC San Diego event will take place on Oct. 17 at Clairemont High School and Mission Bay High School and is part of a University of California “Achieve UC” initiative, UC’s coordinated system-wide effort to show students from diverse, low-income communities that higher education is within their reach.

The system-wide initiative will bring UC leaders and admissions counselors into high schools around the state. In all, about 10,000 students will be encouraged to aim for college and offered practical guidance on how to get there.

“It’s important that we reach out to students from all backgrounds and family-income levels so they know that a quality higher education at the University of California is attainable and affordable,” said Khosla. “We want students to focus on their studies and college applications, and we will focus on helping them with financial aid.”

In addition to having the opportunity to hear from Khosla about the important role college can play, students at both Mission Bay and Clairemont high schools will participate in workshops about why they should go to college, how to prepare for college, how to write a personal statement and how to apply for financial aid. Also, UC advisers will be on hand to offer practical guidance covering what students need to do to be eligible to attend one of California’s public universities.

“We want students to know that it’s not where you go to high school or where you come from that determines whether you go to UC – it’s the wealth of your ambitions and achievements,” said UC system-wide Provost Aimée Dorr. “If you’ve got the courage to aspire and the determination to do well in school, we want you here at a UC campus, and we’ve got resources to help you and your family manage the cost.”’

Students will learn about scholarships designed to make college affordable to all Californians – opportunities such as the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, which covers the full cost of tuition for students whose families earn $80,000 a year or less.

More than half of UC undergraduates who are California residents pay zero tuition thanks to the Blue and Gold Plan and programs like it.

At UC San Diego, approximately 65 percent of students receive need-based financial aid and nearly 44 percent of students receive the Pell Grant.

Among the various UC San Diego initiatives that are designed to promote access and affordability to students is the Chancellor’s Associates Scholars Program. The scholarship, which was announced in spring 2013, is designed to help make a UC San Diego education a reality for students from three local high schools that work with historically underserved communities: Gompers Preparatory Academy, Lincoln High School and The Preuss School UCSD.

Chancellor’s Associates Scholars, who must be eligible for UC’s Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, receive $10,000-per-year to cover additional costs including books, transportation and living expenses—essentially providing a full ride scholarship to attend UC San Diego.

For more information on the Chancellor’s Associates Scholarships, go to http://giving.ucsd.edu/where/chancellors-associates.