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SACRAMENTO – Sacramento City Unified School District announced today that despite COVID-19 the district will continue to provide annual college eligibility packets to thousands of high school seniors to help provide them with individualized information about college options. This successful program, now in its fourth year, helps students by providing them with information about their eligibility at California Community Colleges, California State Universities and the University of California. 

“We firmly believe that it is of critical importance to empower students and families with information and the support necessary to support their post-secondary plans,” said SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. “This goes to the heart of our equity, access, and social justice guiding work.”

Sac City Unified distributes college eligibility packets to 12th graders during the month of October in preparation for November 30, the CSU and UC Application Deadlines. 

The goal of this initiative is to ensure that students are aware of their college options based on their academic profiles. While the eligibility profile does not guarantee admission to any college campus, it provides valuable information for students and their families to consider in this process. The packet will include a brief letter explaining the CSUs and UCs which match the student academic profile and additional information regarding campuses, college going information and financial aid including fee waiver information. 

Of the students surveyed during the 2018-2019 academic year, 15.6% of students indicated that the letters influenced the college/university they applied to.  During the 2019-2020 academic year, 29.8% of students indicated that the letters influenced the college/university they applied to and 37% of students indicated they applied to a college/university they had not previously considered applying to. 

“I am so proud of the student-centered work our district has done over the last four years to provide our families with information about college and financial aid opportunities and to help the new generation of college students achieve their dreams,” said SCUSD Board President Jessie Ryan. ”We look forward to developing a student-led marketing campaign which will raise awareness about college eligibility. Despite COVID challenges, our students and families cannot lose hope. They must continue to pursue their college dreams.”

Sac City Unified currently has data sharing agreements with a number of schools including California State University Sacramento, UC Davis, UC Merced, and Los Rios Community Colleges. Data sharing agreements with our local institutions of higher education allow counselors access to real time data that enables them to respond in real time to students who are eligible and have not yet applied.  This data sharing agreement also provides us data throughout the Spring and allows us the opportunity to support students through the entire matriculation process. The intentionality of the use of data has freed up the time of Counselors so that they could focus on the important work of providing direct support to students. 

Watch Replay of Press Conference