Students have power to save outreach programs, prevent student fee hikes

With the recent state and national legislation, UCLA student
admission and retention increasingly have become difficult.
Additionally, the cuts on the state and federal level to outreach
programs will decrease the number of underrepresented minority and
low-income student applicants.

Even though UCLA is an institution that promises to promote
access to higher education, the new legislative compact ““
created without any student, staff or faculty input ““ denies
thousands of students access to the UC system because it threatens
funding for outreach programs.

Originally the idea of outreach programs was a conservative
solution to the end of affirmative action. Since then, students
have initiated effective outreach programs to ensure that students
of color who are not adequately represented on campus are
academically prepared and fully able to attend institutions of
higher education. Upon their admission, these same students have
then participated in outreach programs within their respective
communities.

Now, with the success of outreach programs, many conservatives
in the state Legislature support cutting outreach funding.

Without the necessary state or federal funding to these outreach
programs it will be nearly impossible to create educational access
to working-class students and students of color; both of these
groups historically have been pushed out of higher education.

With these cuts we will continue to see a fall in the number of
students of color on all UC campuses. This year only 199 black
students were admitted into UCLA, the lowest number in the last few
decades.

Even of the 199 black students admitted it is still unknown how
many actually will attend UCLA; UCLA’s affordability, or lack
thereof, likely will play a large role in their decision. On the
state level, the May budget revision increased student fees and
created a potential decrease in funding for state financial aid
programs. Students continuing their education in the UC system for
the next three years will see roughly a 30 percent hike in student
fees.

Though many students traditionally have chosen to attend UC
schools over private institutions because of the UC prestige and
comparatively cheap education, this fact may change in the upcoming
years. With increasing student fees and decreasing aid, students
with financial concerns might as well attend private
institutions.

On the federal level, there are also proposed conservative
attacks on financial aid. For example, one of the most basic grants
given to low-income students ““ the Pell Grant ““ could
be decreased. As higher numbers of students qualify for this grant,
there is a need to expand the program. Instead, President Bush has
proposed keeping it at the previous year’s level ““ even
though there is already a gap between the amount of money Congress
budgeted for the program and the amount received by eligible
students.

Though this proposed legislation paints a potentially gloomy
picture, it is still uncertain whether it will be passed. We, as
students, have the power to stop it. We can follow in the footsteps
of our predecessors who contributed to the ending of apartheid in
South Africa through the ASUCLA divestment campaign and who
recently helped to defeat Proposition 54.

As the academic year comes to a close, the campaigns to increase
outreach programs and to increase access to financial aid and
higher education overall will continue. For students who care about
these issues and want to help, there are plenty of opportunities on
campus.

It’s never too late to learn about these issues, and
it’s definitely never too late to make your voice heard.

Vu is the 2004-05 USAC external vice president.