The UC Sustainability Report will be unveiled today at the UC Board of Regents bimonthly meeting, being held today through Thursday at UC San Francisco.
On Wednesday, the board will also be voting on UC President Mark Yudof’s financial support plan for students from low-income families, as well as new admission eligibility requirements.
The annual sustainability report will be presented to the Committee on Grounds and Buildings and reveal what the UC system has achieved in terms of sustainability within the last year.
According to the report, the sustainability achievements in 2008 are projected to save nearly $12 million annually. Those cost reductions are largely a result of energy efficiency projects.
In addition, 24 new construction and renovation projects intended to improve university sustainability have received budget approval, according to a report on the UC Regents Web site.
The report also found that at UCLA, the amount of municipal waste diverted from landfills increased by 174 percent in the past year, the largest improvement of any UC.
In addition to the sustainability report, the board will vote Wednesday on whether to implement Yudof’s Blue and Gold Opportunity plan, which would guarantee that UC fees for students from families with incomes below $60,000 would be covered by scholarships or grant awards.
“The Blue and Gold Opportunity plan will slightly raise the return to aid from fee revenue. It will also help to guarantee financial support for students on a year-by-year basis,” said UC Student Regent D’Artagnan Scorza, a UCLA graduate student in education.
The plan would cost an estimated $355 million, assuming a 9.3 percent increase, with more than 60 percent to be covered by Cal Grants. Other scholarships and grants, including UC grants, will constitute all but $3.1 million of the remainder of the costs, according to Blue and Gold Plan.
New funding will be needed in order to cover the leftover costs, according to the proposal. The necessary additional funds will be acquired by increasing the percentage of fee revenue directed toward the financial aid program from 33 to 36 percent.
If approved, the benefits of the plan will be available to California residents who have submitted financial aid applications, applied for a Cal Grant and have an income below $60,000.
Research by the university estimates that this additional funding will be enough to cover the fees for 48,100 undergraduate students.
The proposed plan would go into effect for the 2009-2010 school year, but its continuation in further years will be determined by the university based on the financial situation at the time.
The board will also decide Wednesday on a revised proposal for undergraduate eligibility, which will eliminate the SAT II eligibility requirement.
Scorza said the elimination of the Sat II requirement will lead to expansion of the eligibility pool.
“This will give more opportunities to students who would not have been eligible otherwise,” Scorza said.
The eligibility proposal was adopted by the Assembly of the Academic Senate in June 2008, following two years of study and discussion. The senate presented the proposal to the UC Board of Regents in July 2008, according to the board’s Web site.
Under the proposal, prospective UC students must complete at least 11 of the UC’s 15 required college preparatory courses by the end of their junior year in high school, achieve a GPA of at least 3.0 and take either the ACT Plus Writing or the SAT Reasoning Test in order to be eligible for admission.
Students who meet these requirements must rank in the top 9 percent of students either in the state or in their own high schools to have guaranteed admission to at least one UC campus.
According to data gathered by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, about 21.4 percent of California public high school graduates would meet the requirements and be considered for admission.
About 10.1 percent of eligible students would then be guaranteed admission to at least one campus, by ranking in the top 9 percent of graduates.
According to Scorza, these changes will grant more students an opportunity to be eligible for UC admission, particularly those students whose high schools may not have the resources to adequately prepare them for application to the UC system.
Under the current admission system, only 46,795 students are eligible and entitled to review by admissions officers, according to the CPEC study. However, under the proposed plan, the study revealed that 76,141 students would be eligible, while just over 35,000 would be guaranteed admission.
“Students can currently be highly achieving in the context of their school, but their school might not provide the means to be eligible for UC admission,” Scorza said.
“Students shouldn’t be penalized for the lack of opportunity at their schools. But under this proposal, they will have increased opportunities.”