Research

In 2019-20, UCSA partnered with the UCLA Luskin policy group on an APP project studying support for UC’s parenting students. The official paper, compiles a series of interviews with parenting students, policy experts, and members of the workgroup to come out with an analysis of current gap areas in resources for parenting students, as well as an evaluation criterion for the various potential policy options that the workgroup could consider based on the current economic and structural realities.

Read the report “Improving Support Systems For Parenting Students at the University of California”.

A report released by the University of California Student Association (UCSA) and The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) finds that the burden of student loan debt is not borne evenly across all university graduates. First Comes Diploma, Then Comes Debt. Unequal Debt Burdens among University of California Undergraduates finds that the lowest income college graduates were the most likely to leave school with student loan debt to repay, despite the university’s relatively robust financial aid offerings which fully cover tuition for 56 percent of undergraduates.

The University of California Student Association conducted a systemwide qualitative research project regarding the ways UC supports students with disabilities and the ways students believe that support can be improved. During the 2017-2018 academic year, the UCSA Board adopted a new campaign, #WeAre3D, responding to a request from communities representing students with disabilities to advocate for disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill students at the UC.

Read the report, “Supporting Disability Resources Systemwide: Testimonies and Recommendations by UC Students with Disabilities”.

In the year following the presidential election of Donald Trump, the University of California Student Association conducted a series of interviews to capture first-hand experiences of underrepresented students living through the new administration. The project sought to determine if feelings of marginalization, vulnerability, and/or resiliency from underrepresented students were intensified after the 2016 election. We hope this summary of the thirteen interviews will provide a detailed, intersectional look into the student experience under a national polarizing political climate.

Read the report, “The Student Experience During Trump Era”.

The UC Student Association considers food security, affordable housing, and readily available, culturally competent mental health services all to be basic needs of students pursuing a degree at the University of California. A recent study by the University of California Global Food Initiative found that 19% of student respondents had very low food security, while another 23% were considered to have low food security, as defined by the USDA. Further, the study showed that the prevalence of undergraduate students systemwide who faced a reduced quality of diet or reduced food intake was 49%. The report concedes that food insecurity has the “potential to widen disparities in students academic achievement, overall health, and future success.” The UC Global Food Initiative survey did not examine the relationship between student food insecurity and time to graduate or failure to graduate. It also fails to capture those students who have already left the UC system because of a lack of basic needs.

Read the report, “A Plate At The Table”.

Summary: The University of California (UC) prides itself on being a world-class public research university. The success of the UC graduate student population, which generates and performs a good deal of this research work, is vital to UC meeting its mission statement. Despite the rank of many UC campuses among top national research universities, many barriers prevent the successful completion of postgraduate degrees. The following report highlights some of the major barriers to graduate student completion.

Read the report.