Promoting access to college in an era of fiscal constraints: The University of California’s Early Academic Outreach Program

Abstract

In 2013, SRI conducted the first independent evaluation of EAOP in ten years. The largest of UC’s academic preparation programs aimed at increasing college-going opportunities for underserved student populations, EAOP is the only one that operates at all 10 UC campuses. Using postsecondary enrollment data from the NSC merged with students’ high school data from the Transcript Evaluation Service, admissions’ test score data from the College Board and ACT, and the UC application, admission and enrollment data from the UC Corporate Student System, SRI assessed the college readiness, college-going, and college persistence rates of EAOP students relative to their peers. We compared outcomes for EAOP students both to similar students within their schools and to similar students in other schools. This analysis of student data reveals especially promising evidence regarding the association between EAOP participation and several key outcomes of interest: college-going in general and UC application, admission and enrollment in particular. In addition, the research team visited all ten UC campus programs – reviewing the services provided, interviewing program staff and students about the services they most value, and documenting how program operations have evolved in an era of shrinking budgets.