FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 9, 2002
Brandy Ramos Nikaido
(559) 241-7512
brandy.nikaido@ucop.edu

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PROGRAM AIMS TO IMPROVE COLLEGE ELIGIBILITY RATES
Free online Advanced Placement and honors courses and online test preparation assistance provided by UC benefit Valley students

FRESNO - Students in many rural or small high schools often are unable to take advanced placement or honors courses simply because they are unavailable. Now they can - thanks to online programs provided by the University of California.

At Laton High School in Fresno County, 17-year-old Mirian Torres is one such student.

“The classes are helping to improve my English skills and prepare me for college,” said Torres, who is enrolled in advanced placement (AP) English literature and honors psychology.

The UC College Prep Initiative (UCCP) helps students achieve eligibility for admission to UC and other top universities by offering courses online and free of charge to schools that do not have the funding or staff to provide suitable AP or honors courses in the traditional classroom.

“Our program is about providing, promoting and opening access to the University of California for all hard-working students in the Valley,” said James R. Ortez, regional coordinator for UC College Prep Initiative.

During the fall 2002 semester, 512 students in 12 Valley counties including Inyo and Mono were enrolled in online classes through UCCP.

Last month, Torres applied for freshman admission to University of California campuses at Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. Offers of admission will be sent to students next spring.

Many top universities including UC rely on AP course credit and AP exam scores to demonstrate exceptional performance in high school. Students with little or no access to AP courses are at a disadvantage when applying for admission to a selective university.

“Programs like this definitely help highly motivated students at smaller schools,” said James Reed, vice principal at Laton High School. “Without the UC College Prep Initiative, we would have fewer AP courses, or most likely none at all.”

To participate, schools must:

* Provide few or no AP honors courses; or
* Have a low four-year college participation rate; or
* Have more than half of its students receiving free or reduced-price lunch; and
*Meet certain technical requirements, and provide students with access to school computers, printers and fax machines; and
*Designate an on-campus mentor to support enrolled students.

UCCP provides all required textbooks at no charge.

Francisco J. Hernandez, vice chancellor of student affairs at UC Santa Cruz, founded UCCP in 1998 with funding from UC President Richard C. Atkinson. UCCP partners with industry leaders in online education such as UC Berkeley Extension to provide online courses.

UCCP also offers free online test preparation for the SAT and ACT exams to students regardless of where they attend high school. The next SAT exam date is January 25, 2003.

UCCP’s spring 2003 courses start in January. For more information about the UC College Prep Initiative, please visit www.uccp.org

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