Low-income San Diego-area community college students can now gain assured admission to UCSD
University of California administrators launched a new program this week that will give low-income students in San Diego a guaranteed transfer to UCSD. The new project, UniversityLink, was launched Nov. 20 and will replace the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program that was discontinued in 2012. UniversityLink aims at assisting low-income community college students from the San Diego area who cannot attend any UC campus other than UCSD because they cannot afford to live away from home.
To be eligible for the program, a student’s family income cannot exceed $40,000 a year. Additionally, students must have at least a 3.5 average grade point average, and they must fulfill regular transfer requirements.
Students must also go to one of nine local partner community colleges: Cuyamaca, Grossmont, Imperial Valley, MiraCosta, Palomar, San Diego City, San Diego Mesa, San Diego Miramar or Southwestern.
The TAG program is still in effect for the fall of 2014 but will no longer be in effect for UCSD after that year. However, it is still operating for eight other UC campuses.
Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Alan Houston said that an estimated 200 students will be eligible for the program each year and that there is no ceiling for the number of students that can take advantage of it.
Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Robby Boparai noted at Wednesday night’s A.S. Meeting that these students are unique from other commuter students and may require additional support once they attend UCSD.
“We don’t yet have a support system to deal with those issues,” Houston said. “Once they get here, the trick would be to figure out what kind of community ties are missing.”
However, Houston guesses that many of the primary issues facing these students are likely to be similar to the issues facing other commuter students.
“If I had to wager a guess,” Houston said, “I’d say the biggest challenge for the commuting student is parking.”
A potential financial problem that this program may cause is that many of these incoming students will require large sums of financial aid. However, according to Houston, Chancellor Pradeep Khosla’s “primary objective in the capital campaign that will be launched next year is scholarships for undergraduate students.”
Aditionally, UniversityLink established a four-week summer Medical Science Program. The program is free of charge and includes academic activities, room and board. The program is intended for students interested in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, biomedical research or allied health careers.
Student veterans, active-duty service members and former foster youth are also eligible, regardless of their year. International students are not eligible. High school seniors and community college students can apply for UniversityLink starting Nov. 20.