UC’s doors are open, Napolitano assures Oakland Tech students
November 1, 2013 •
University of California President Janet Napolitano met with students at Oakland Technical High School on Oct. 30 to hear about their hopes and aspirations and to assure them that the doors to the greatest public university in the world are open.
The meeting marked one of Napolitano’s first public visits outside a UC campus since taking office a month ago. She chose Oakland Tech in part because UC has a long history of partnering with administrators there to improve college-going rates among its students.
At the campus, which is just a few miles down the road from UCOP offices in downtown Oakland, Napolitano urged students to see college — and the University of California — as within their reach.
She urged them to work hard and set high expectations for themselves. In turn, she promised to ensure that UC would remain both accessible and affordable.
“What you do, and what your passion is for — that comes from you,” she said. “Here’s what I can do. I can help make sure that the University of California is accessible to California students, it’s affordable to California students, and it retains its world-class excellence.”
In fact, she said, “I want to look at what we can do to not only keep our doors open and accessible, but what we can do to open them even wider.”
UC has worked hard to make sure that the cost of going to college is not a barrier, Napolitano said, with strong financial aid programs. UC’s Blue and Gold Plan, for instance, covers tuition costs for roughly half of all university students.
“If your family makes $80,000 or less, you pay no tuition — not one single dollar — to attend the University of California.”
That information was welcome news to many students.
