President Mark G. Yudof
Announcement of Project You Can
Sunnyside High School, Fresno
Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

Remarks as prepared

It's such a pleasure for me to be here at Sunnyside High School, home of the Wildcats, to share with you some very important news from the University of California that will directly affect many of you and your families.

Principal Weaver is unable to be with us today, but I would like to thank her and Vice Principal Angel Durazo for hosting us.

I also would like to welcome special guests who have joined us today: UC Regents Odessa Johnson and Frederick Ruiz; Chair of the Academic Senate Harry Powell; UC Merced Chancellor Steve Kang; members of the Fresno City Council; representatives from the offices of congressmen Jim Costa, Devin Nunes and George Radanovich. We also have leaders of the Fresno educational community and Doctors Academy alumni. Thank you so much for being here.
 
We have some news, but first I want to take a few moments to talk to you students. I have heard that you are a hard-working group with big dreams. You've set high goals for yourselves and you have the good fortune to be surrounded by mentors who are here to help you reach those goals.

I may be a university president today, but I want you to know that growing up, I had no idea that this is where I would end up. My father left elementary school and later became an electrician. Only one person in his family graduated from high school. My mother had one year of college.

With help from my family, I set my sights on college. It wasn't easy, but at every step of the way, there was someone who believed in me. My parents told me, "You can." And I learned to believe in myself, and to work very, very hard to succeed.

Here with us today is Dr. Katherine Flores, founder of the Doctors Academy, whom many of you know personally. Dr. Flores didn't grow up she thinking she was headed to college either. Together with her grandparents, young Kathy Flores worked as a migrant farm worker. She left school early each spring and came back a little late each fall, after blistering summers spent picking in the fields and sleeping in migrant camps.

It was a high school teacher who told Kathy Flores, "You can," and encouraged her to apply for Stanford.

Now Stanford is no UC, but it's not a half-bad place.

Dr. Flores set her sights high: She worked her way, harder than you can imagine, through medical school at UC Davis. Today she is not only a physician in private practice, but also a highly respected member of this community who has mentored hundreds of young people interested in medical careers.

As leader of the University of California, I am in the opportunity business. Nothing makes me happier than to meet young people like yourselves and to know that we are here to serve your dreams — with complete faith that you will pay forward in service to your community a thousand times what we invest in you today.

The University of California is for all Californians. We don't just want students from Fig Garden or Clovis, though we welcome them, too. We also want them from the west side of Fresno, and from the east side, and, yes, from Sunnyside. We want them from all of Fresno and all of the valley and all of California, from neighborhoods rich and poor and in-between. We're in the opportunity business and we want to knock on as many doors as we can.

I'm here today to tell you that you can attend UC. You can attend UC, regardless of your family's ability to pay. I'll have more to say about that in a moment.

If you work hard and apply yourself, there is a place for you at the table at the finest major public research university in the nation.

Did you know that UC enrolls more low-income students, about 31 percent of our total, than any other public research university in the country?

Did you know that half of our students come from homes where English is not the only language spoken?

It's appropriate to deliver this message here in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, which is the heart of California. This is where the California dream meets the sweat of reality. You work hard here in the valley, and you get somewhere. Nobody gives you anything — they might even tell jokes at your expense. But you know better. Nobody here today needs a handout. Some of you might need a hand up. And we're here to offer it.

You know as well as anyone in this state that these are tough times. Many of your families are struggling to hold on to jobs, to homes, to dreams.

I know that you follow the news, and in the next few weeks you may read some scary headlines that say, "Fees are going up at UC."

You and your family may be sitting around the kitchen table saying, "We can't afford it. UC is out of reach."

I'm here today to tell you that's not true.

Today I am announcing Project You Can, a $1 billion, four-year fundraising effort for student financial support by the 10 campuses of the UC system.

Every UC campus is fired up to meet this billion-dollar challenge. We've been raising scholarship money for years. Now we are aiming to double the amount of funds we have raised over the past five years.

This $1 billion will be dedicated to student support at each UC campus: It's not money for salaries and buildings; it's $1 billion that will go into scholarships, fellowships, support for professional students, for prizes for excellence and the like.

It's money that will be there for you, if you qualify for admission to one of our campuses.

In addition, I will ask the Board of Regents in just a few weeks to raise the income limit on our Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan for our lowest-income students, from $60,000 to $70,000. That means that except in a few rare cases, if your family earns less than $70,000, and you qualify for financial aid, you will pay nothing in system wide fees to attend the University of California. Not one dollar.

For you, this all means the university is working on all fronts to ensure that the university remains open and affordable.

You still have to do the work. Think about these Doctors Academy students sitting behind me and what they represent. Nobody really has given them anything more than simply a chance to show what they can do, to prove what they are worth, to earn a chance to someday contribute, to make a better world and a better valley. They can and you can, and we can help. That's our message today.

We each have a role to play.

Your job is to be the best students you can be. Focus. Do your class work and your homework; ask for help when you need it; prepare for your SATs; give back to your communities. Do everything in your power to make yourselves outstanding applicants for the University of California.

It's a hard road, but one that is vital for your future — and good for your families. There used to be a time when there were plenty of good blue-collar jobs for people who didn't go to college. Those days are ending fast. That's why a college education is more vital than ever.

Our job is to give you every fair chance for admission to one of our 10 campuses — and the means to pay for it.

If you want to give back to your community, if you want to take care of those with heart disease and diabetes, care for the elderly and mentor the young, then college is your path.

A UC education will help you achieve anything you set your mind to: You can build a bridge or become a brain surgeon. Or a marine biologist, unlocking the mysteries of the sea, an archaeologist, unearthing the mysteries of human history. You can become a teacher, a writer or a physician and community leader like Dr. Flores.

You have an extraordinary opportunity here at Sunnyside High. College will allow you to care for those in your community. You can be a hero to your families. You can pay it forward.

And if you feel like you need an intermediate step before you are ready for UC, if you feel more comfortable, if it's more affordable for you, then we are happy to review your transfer application if you choose to apply with a couple of years of community college under your belt.

So you see, there are really two on-ramps for you to take to get to a UC campus. You can apply directly from high school, or you can go first to a community college. You can get to UC.

"Yes We Can" is a rallying cry that has a long history in this valley. It was shouted up and down this valley, 40 years ago, often in Spanish, by Cesar Chavez and the farm workers.

Maybe the parents or grandparents of some of you were part of it. They started a movement. Nobody gave them much of a chance, but they said, "yes, it can be done" — si se puede — and yes they did.

If those ancestors from the fields could look at you high-achieving, aspiring students gathered in this theater today, wondering if you might be able to pursue a college degree, hoping to advance your lives and help your families, eager to achieve the great dreams that so often are unlocked through a University of California experience. If they were here and could look at you and look into your hearts and take measure of your hopes and your uncertainties, you know what those yes-we-can people would tell you?

Si tu puedes. Yes, you can.

They might also say this: If back then we could focus the attention of the world on the vineyards of Delano and the San Joaquin Valley, if we could march down the valley's back roads and start a national movement, wanting only to forge a path for a brighter future for those who come behind us, for people like Dr. Flores, then surely you can do your part. You can get your grades squared away, get your homework done, prepare for the SAT, do what it takes and move forward with your lives.

I invite you when we break for lunch today to learn more about what it takes. Stop by and visit the UC admissions kiosk we have placed in the cafeteria. You can get valuable information about the UC application and financial aid process there.

For members of the media, our media relations staff will be available afterward to provide you with more details about Project You Can.

We have many ways to benefit from each other, you students of Sunnyside High and we at the University of California.

I hope you will consider applying, with full confidence that if you get in, we will be there for you, thanks to Project You Can, the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan and other financial aid sources.

A college education is more than a good thing for you. It's good for your families. It's good for your community. It's good for California.

As you strike out from Sunnyside to the places your dreams take you, please know that you go with my support and admiration, and with the good wishes from all of us at UC.

Remember: You Can.

Thank you very much.