After three years of financial neglect from the state,
student academic preparation and outreach programs are receiving some desperately
sought-after attention in the 2008-09 California
state budget.

This year, the Legislature rejected Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenneger’s proposal to — yet again — reduce General Fund support for
University of California student academic programs by $19.3 million. The state
will now fund these programs, which have become an integral part of increasing
diversity and assisting students from disadvantaged schools, with $31.3 million
for UC schools.

According to the University
of California Office of
the President, participants in UC academic preparation programs now account for
30 percent of black UC freshmen and 33 percent of Latino UC freshmen. Among
their many important services, outreach programs focus on providing tutoring,
mentoring and college counseling services to disadvantaged students in an
effort to give them access to the same opportunities as their more advantaged
counterparts.