Hershman Testifies Before State Senate on Outreach Cuts

The following testimony was delivered by Larry Hershman, UC vice president for budget, before a California Senate committee hearing on Dec. 10, 2003, regarding proposals for mid-year cuts to university outreach programs.

These cuts are devastating. Let me be clear about the current year. We have no way to make the cuts we were already allocated in the budget act -- a 50 percent cut of $33 million. Another $12 million on top of that is just adding to an already impossible task.

Although you are not addressing the 2004 portion of these cuts at this point, the proposal is to eliminate all state funding for outreach.Such a disinvestment in the future of so many children seems to be the opposite of what we should be doing at this point. We’ve seen published information from opponents of these programs that describe them as nothing but expensive marketing or recruitment programs for the university. We disagree strongly with that characterization.

These programs primarily serve students attending low-performing schools, providing them with academic assistance (tutoring, homework skills building, mentoring) to try to help level the playing field for those students. Because of the schools they go to, and because they are generally from families who have never sent anyone to college, most of these students don't do on their own what's necessary to achieve eligibility for UC.

The purpose of our programs is to try to provide the academic assistance these students need to go to college. We regard it as a success not only if they go to UC, but also if they go to CSU, or even to Harvard! Given demographic trends facing California in the near future, it makes no sense to totally abandon these students to overcome the disadvantages they face on their own.

We've been discussing this issue and these cuts with chancellors, regents, others throughout the university. At the Council of Chancellors meeting last week, the chancellors unanimously agreed that outreach is core to the university's mission.

Our programs are working with well over 100,000 participants to help them get on track, and stay on track, to do what's necessary to become eligible. It is in the best interest of this state to help more and more of these students to get on a four-year college path. Especially when we have programs to help them that we know work.

Vice President Winston Doby appeared before your committee last year to talk about the success of these programs. I have the handouts from that presentation as well as copies of our annual report that document the success of our efforts. He will welcome the opportunity to testify again this year to help you understand the importance of these programs to the university.

As we reported to you last spring, nearly half of the underrepresented students entering UC students are participants in these programs. Eligibility, application, and enrollment rates for students participating in these programs are increasing each year. An independent study of the EAOP program found that participants are twice as likely to complete UC college preparatory coursework as their non-EAOP counterparts. This definitive study incorporated a control group and spanned several years, encompassing more than 40,000 California high school students. Among students completing the MESA program, 71 percent go on to attend college. It has received national recognition for its achievements.

We hope to convince the governor and the Legislature that state funding for outreach must be preserved. We'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.