Last November, Luz Herrera was sitting at a computer filling out
college applications, but she wasn’t filling them out for
herself.
Herrera, a fourth-year Portuguese and international development
studies student, was sitting next to Simone, a senior at Inglewood
High School.
“We worked together on a computer, step by step, on a
Saturday to complete both the UC and Cal State applications,”
Herrera said. “She seemed very excited with her submission;
it motivated her to do well and believe in herself. I’m
looking forward to finding out where she was accepted.”
For the past three years, Herrera, a member of the UCLA Early
Academic Outreach Program, has been going to different high schools
in Southern California and motivating students to think about
attending college.
Herrera was in the program herself as a student and attended
Inglewood High School like many of the students she aids now.
The program’s staff members go to high schools and middle
schools that rank low in the Academic Performance Index.
They give students information about college, such as when
deadlines are and what classes they should be taking to prepare
themselves.
They also act as mentors to the students.
The high school students targeted by the program usually come
from low-income families and are the first from their families to
apply to college.
Recent state budget cuts have caused many aspects of the program
to be cut, such as a decrease in staff members and the number of
schools visited.
Herrera said she believes in the importance of the program
because she has been part of it since high school, and seen the
impact it can make firsthand.
Herrera migrated from Mexico to California with her parents when
she was 7 years old, and began third grade without knowing a word
of English.
“I think as a student I was a quiet type. I did my work,
my parents didn’t push me. They never talked to me about
college,” she said. “I thought I would figure it out
myself.”
Herrera became involved in the program in the 10th grade, when
Kevin Linell, the UCLA/EAOP site coordinator, did a classroom
presentation.
“He said, “˜If you want to go to college, talk to me.
I’ll tell you how to get there and what to do.’ That
sparked some interest in my mind,” she said.”I talked
to him that same day.”
As a high school junior, Herrera became a peer counselor.
“I started to get to know the EAOP staff. They encouraged
me to apply (to college). I want to be there for other students
like my EAOP advisers were there for me,” she said.
“Because of them, I am here now.”
Since her second year at UCLA, Herrera has been part of the EAOP
staff and works for Linell, the supervisor who first motivated her
to begin thinking about the college process.
She goes to three different schools during the week, devoting an
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. day to each school.
The program used to send four to five members to attend a school
together so they could effectively meet with more students.
Now, only one or two EAOP members are able to go to a specific
school, and often Herrera goes alone.
“One person is not enough, especially to give them
one-on-one attention. We see students four or five at a time.
It’s really difficult,” she said. “One-on-one
attention is what I like to do because I want to give the students
the attention and information I received when I was younger that
made me come to UCLA.”
Budget cuts have also eliminated other programs that were part
of EAOP.
They used to organize summer boot camps to help students focus
on different subjects they had trouble with, but there is no longer
a budget for that.
EAOP also used to hold Saturday Preparatory Academies, where
students were brought to UCLA for workshops and campus tours.
“We used to bring buses full of kids. Now, it’s
rare,” Herrera said.
The programs that have had to be eliminated were important
because they were able to motivate students outside of the
classroom.
“One of the features of (outreach) programs is not just to
go to these under-served communities, but to bring these students
out here, and that spark of making them see just what a college
environment looks like,” said Mitchell Chang, a professor at
the UCLA Graduate School of Education.
“If we cut these funds, how will the UC serve these
communities by motivating, inspiring and helping to prepare
students to enter these colleges? That’s really the real
question mark,” he said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for the
2005-2006 fiscal year includes a $17 million cut to the UC system,
which the governor suggests the university will have to absorb by
either cutting outreach or enrollment.
The legislature still must review the budget before any changes
are made, and the University of California is lobbying them to
ameliorate the cuts.
“(UC) President Dynes has said that he intends to work
with the governor and with the legislator throughout the budget
process to underscore the importance of the programs and to try to
restore funding,” Montero said.
There was a proposed elimination of outreach programs for the
2004-2005 year, but they were restored with a reduction of about 7
percent, Montero added.
The future of outreach programs will not be clear until the
budget is finalized, but EAOP has already been dealing with
hardships from lack of funds for some time.
“The reductions have been very painful in the last couple
years. We have tried on campus and across the state to maintain as
many of the services as we possibly could,” Montero said.
The EAOP staff says its importance is reflected in the mass
amount of students it serves ““ 85,000 students across
California.
Though many high schools have college counselors, it is not
always possible for them to meet with students for individual
consulting.
“(Students) don’t have access to college counselors,
or the ratio of counselors to students is pathetic. It’s way
too late to prepare for college, or they misguide them into a
non-college track,” Chang said.
“It’s very powerful to have another college student
come and mentor and help a high school student. It’s more
powerful than having a professor come in and say, “˜You have
to go to college.’ They make a special connection with these
students that older adults can’t,” he added.
Counselors at the high schools also realize the importance of
having students work with students.
“If we didn’t have the outreach programs, our
students would definitely be handicapped,” said JoAnn
Jolly-Blanks, the college counselor at Inglewood High.
“I don’t know what is going to happen with budgets
next year. It is really going to put a damper on our school if we
don’t have (outreach),” she said.
Though the future of the outreach program is unsure, Herrera is
proof of the difference EAOP can make in a student’s college
future.
After graduating this year, she plans to become a college
counselor and pursue a post-doctorate degree in education and work
with socially and economically disadvantaged students.
Until then, Herrera continues her work with EAOP.
She says she hopes the budget cuts will not take anything more
away.
“To me, it is especially important to go back to my high
school. I’m from there and I’m going back. It’s
encouraging for them knowing I was at where they are at right
now,” she said.