University of California • 8th February 2021

UC, UCSA launch nationwide effort to increase aid for low-income students

A few years ago, college was not in the picture for AnDrea Crawford, a 46-year-old who was busy raising three kids and running an East Oakland hair salon.

Today, she’s finishing up a UC Berkeley degree in legal studies — an accomplishment that she says would never have been possible without the federal aid program known as the Pell Grant.

After learning that her youngest had autism, she decided to hang up her trimming shears and go to college to gain the knowledge and resources to be a more ef

University of California • 6th November 2020

Tips for tackling the November ballot

The presidential race may be dominating the news cycle, but this year’s ballot is packed with candidates and issues that hit a lot closer to home.

From school board and city council, to local measures over affordable housing, police reform and plastic bag bans, voters this November will influence some of the biggest issues facing their communities.

The ballot is also chock full of statewide measures: Californians will decide on a dozen voter initiatives, including whether 17-year-olds should b

University of California • 12th October 2020

8 things that are new this election

The pandemic has transformed just about every aspect of our lives, from how we live, work and study to how we cast our ballots. But while voting may be a little different this year, it’s just as important as ever.

The good news: California has implemented a host of measures so citizens can securely cast their ballots. These measures don’t only make voting safer, they make it easier and more convenient, too.

Here is what’s new this year:

1. Everyone has the option to vote by mail

Starting Oct

University of California • 23rd July 2020

California youth fired up to vote in 2020, new poll finds

This year, millions of young adults will join the ranks of California voters, adding to a growing legion that has now outstripped older voters as the largest share of the voting public.

As the country approaches an election in the midst of the COVID-19 health crisis, UC surveyed this potentially powerful segment of the electorate to learn about their attitudes toward voting, civic engagement and the issues they care most about.

The results reflect a population that is overwhelmingly worried ab

University of California • 19th June 2020

Relief and joy abound: DACA recipients react to the Supreme Court victory

When the Trump administration moved to end the program that lets people like UCLA graduate Angelica Reyes legally live, work and study in the U.S., the beloved Los Angeles high school teacher cried with her students. “We thought I was going to be ripped away from them,” she said.

She cried with them again Thursday — only this time with relief after the Supreme Court issued a decision that will continue, for now, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that legally allows her t

University of California • 10th April 2020

As Supreme Court takes up DACA, UC students rally in support

As the Supreme Court met today (Nov. 12) to decide the fate of roughly 700,000 undocumented young people who were brought to the U.S. as children, UC students stood outside, braving the wind and the rain to send a message of support.

Wearing butterfly pins to symbolize immigration and holding bright yellow signs that said “Home is Here,” more than 50 UC students joined in a rally in defense of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The program has allowed young people who were brought t

University of California • 21st February 2020

‘Our futures are being tossed like a coin’

Viridiana Chabolla still has the stub from the first paycheck she ever received. “It was just $250, but it felt so good to be able to clock in and clock out,” she said. “It was so exciting to pay taxes!”

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Chabolla, now a law student at UC Irvine, will be at the Supreme Court to defend the rights of people like her to continue working and paying taxes, a right she was granted under the Obama administration with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Chabolla, who has

University of California • 29th March 2017

UC law students pitch in to help immigrants assert their rights

On a recent Saturday morning at the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento, dozens of UC Davis law students turned out to offer free legal assistance to throngs of anxious immigrants.

They helped some file papers for U.S. citizenship, and assisted others with designating authorized caregivers for their children, should they be deported.

Put together by UC Davis law students in conjunction with the Mexican Consulate and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, the clinic is just one of the ways i