Anteaters with Pride, Anteaters in Need 

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Every year thousands of students from across California complete years of hard work and study, take their college entrance exams and gain formal admission to the University of California, Irvine.

There’s joy in each family as that acceptance letter arrives in the mail.

 

But this year is different. 

 

The poor economy is hurting our students and their families up and down the state, from hard-hit San Joaquin Valley farming communities to urban Los Angeles. Many of California’s brightest students may not be able to attend UC Irvine. And students already admitted to the university may not be able to afford to continue their studies.

 

Families are facing heartbreaking decisions.

 

We need to act to help students who are suffering so they can continue to attend UC Irvine and be our next generation of doctors and nurses, engineers and scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs and leaders.

 

What’s the answer?  This year UC Irvine is joining with volunteers at our fellow campuses across the state to raise private funds to provide students with scholarships.

 

We’re not going it alone. Donors in Orange County and across the state have teamed-up with the UC Irvine campus community with the goal to raise $5 million this year for student scholarships.

 

We all want our lives to have meaning. As UC Irvine Anteaters we want to have a positive impact in the world in medicine, education, science and business. You can help our students realize the rewards of their hard work and academic excellence and help ensure a strong future for our state.

 

Understanding the problem: When you include fees, books, transportation and food the realistic cost to attend UC Irvine is $19,020 if you live at home and $24,930 if you live on campus. The cost of attending UC Irvine this year increased by close to 10% and even steeper increases may happen in the future. That’s an increase that many of our students and their families simply can’t meet.

 

While UC Irvine is located in one of California’s most affluent areas, many of our students come from desperately poor backgrounds. To attend here many work part-time jobs, use monies scrimped and saved by their parents, earn scholarships and borrow against their future.

 

The reality: 37% of our students are the first in their families to attend college and 60% receive some type of financial aid. A third of our students are from very low income, poor or working class families and over half speak a language other than English at home. Federal student aid programs have leveled off or declined; tuition has gone up and these students–many of California’s highest merit students—are at serious risk.

 

How to give: You can donate directly to scholarships for high-performing UC Irvine students, both future and current, at our giving Website, Click here, call  949-824-5820 or send us an email at icare@ucifuture.com.

 

Any size gift would be appreciated by our students and their families. A gift now ensures California’s best students have a path to a real future, not a dead end.

 

That’s important to them. That’s vital for California.

 

There simply is no better time to help.