UC President Janet Napolitano detailed how the $5 million she allocated to support undocumented students will be distributed among nine University of California campuses in a letter released Wednesday to UC chancellors.
UCLA will receive $848,000 of the total $5 million for undocumented student services and financial aid, the most out of any UC campus, according to the letter.
UCLA currently enrolls more than 450 undocumented students, a 65 percent increase from last year. There are about 900 undocumented students in the UC system.
Of the amount allocated to UCLA, $250,000 will provide services for undocumented students and $598,000 will go toward undocumented student financial aid.
Each UC campus – except for UC San Francisco – will receive $250,000 for “enhanced student services” for undocumented students, which can include hiring specialized staff, establishing resource centers, providing academic or psychological counseling, offering courses about the undocumented experience and coordinating campus services with legal and financial resources.
The rest of the $5 million will be allocated to campuses depending on how many undocumented students they enroll who have financial need. UCLA has the largest number of such students, followed by UC Berkeley, which will receive $410,000 for undocumented student financial aid.
Campuses will decide how exactly to allocate the money designated for financial aid, which can include loans and work-study positions for undocumented students.
“I am hopeful that this funding will augment existing efforts and help each campus provide meaningful support to undocumented UC students, who have overcome significant obstacles in attending UC but who continue to face a unique set of challenges,” Napolitano said in the letter.
The UC Office of the President will also conduct two systemwide, in-person training sessions for staff who work with undocumented students, hold two in-person advisory meetings between the UC vice president for student affairs and students and create a website about systemwide resources for undocumented students.
All campuses must designate one staff member to serve as the primary liaison and point of contact for undocumented students.
Napolitano asked all campuses to provide her office with a plan detailing how they intend to spend this money and how they solicited student input about their spending plan by Feb. 28.
Campuses will also be required to submit a report detailing how their funds were used and what impacts those funds had on the their undocumented student populations.
Napolitano said campuses must spend all of their undocumented student funds by June 2016.
Any dollars unused by that time will be returned to the UC’s Mortgage Origination Program, which provides housing loans for University faculty and senior administrators to live near UC campuses. The $5 million in undocumented student funds largely came from this program’s excess reserves, according to the letter.
Compiled by Kristen Taketa, Bruin senior staff.
It doesn’t make sense to make allocations for undocumented students, when the UC system cannot even provide allotments towards the education for all of its own merited students. Caving in to the demands of the undocumented masses, is just another instance of aristocratic ideals selling out to the fear of violent force from the masses. There are too many people on earth. Reduce the population! Legalize assisted suicide.