In an effort to attract more low-income students in tense economic times, the UC Board of Regents will consider next week establishing a minimum level of gift assistance for undergraduates whose families earn below the state median household income of $60,000.
Under UC President Mark G. Yudof’s proposal ‘mdash; known as the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan ‘mdash; undergraduates with qualifying household incomes would receive at least enough scholarship and grant aid to fully cover systemwide fees. The program would last four years for beginning undergraduates and two years for California community-college transfer students.
Students with sufficient financial need would receive additional grant assistance to cover books, housing, food, transportation and other educational expenses.
The offer would benefit 1,100 students, including some currently enrolled whose state and federal aid falls short of the university’s tuition, which stands at $7,126 this year.
In a statement Thursday, Yudof said that while a large amount of financial assistance is already available, UC students and their parents possess only a ‘vague’ understanding of how it works.
‘Despite having a robust financial-aid program and enrolling more low-income students than any other top research university, UC must be able to counter effectively the perception that our costs, especially our fee charges, make us financially inaccessible to students of modest means,’ Yudof said. ‘The proposal’s goal is to make sure lower-income families no longer need to worry about how they will cover UC’s basic student fees.’
The Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan would cost the university an estimated $3.1 million per year, and would be funded by increasing the amount of fee revenue reserved for financial aid from 33 percent to 36 percent.
Next month, the regents will also consider a 10 percent increase in systemwide fees.
The university currently provides scholarship and grant assistance averaging $10,300 per student to 54 percent of its 173,000 undergraduates.
According to Yudof, the new plan would not affect undergraduates with household incomes between $60,000 and $100,000, who receive an average of $5,800 in grants per year. The university will continue to provide enough grant assistance to defray at least half the annual increase in fees for these students, he said.
The regents are scheduled to discuss the proposal at their Feb. 3 through Feb. 5 meeting in San Francisco.
Readers can contact Jesse Alm at [email protected].