Transfer Support

We provide transfer advising and one on one support to currently and formerly incarcerated community college students who pledge to join our transfer cohort. Our services include transcript analysis, major preparation, counseling, support writing personal statements and completing the application.

Eligibility Guidelines

• Must be formerly incarcerated or system impacted (immediate family member incarcerated)
• Must attend or have completed transfer requirements at a CA community college
• Must be on track to have 60 units completed by the spring semester after the UC application is due
• Meet minimum transfer GPA requirements for the campuses you want to apply to: 3.0 for UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego & 2.8 for UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside

Overview

• Over 90% of our applicants get into the UC system
• Each applicant must attend monthly workshops
• Each applicant is assigned an Underground Scholars Transfer Coordinator to support them
• Students who aren't ready to apply can submit a Transfer Pledge to join our Prison to School Pipeline Event

Transfer Pledge

This is for formerly incarcerated community college students who are in the early stages of Community College and would like support from Underground Scholars in transferring to the UC system.

How to Prepare for Transfer

• How to Prepare for UC
• UC Transfer Planning Tools
• Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) Requirements for UC Davis
• Personal Insight Questions on the UC application

Transfer Roadmap

• Are you currently enrolled in a community college?
  • Yes
    • Join one of our recruitment programs
    • Become an Ambassador to sharpen your leadership skills
    • Join our Transfer Cohort to get support with the UC application
  • No
    • Find your local community college and get enrolled!
    • Once enrolled sign our Transfer Pledge and join our recruitment programs
    • See above steps
• Get Accepted to multiple UC campuses!
• Choose your campus and enroll as a UC student and Underground Scholar
• Welcome to the UC System!

Incarcerated Scholars Program

Our Incarcerated Scholars Program provides outreach,  academic advising and transcript analysis for incarcerated students. Incarcerated Scholars may contact the program by writing to:

Underground Scholars Program
1 Shields Ave.
South Hall, Room 26
Davis, California 95616

We will respond to all written correspondence within one week.

The program email is undergroundscholars@ucdavis.edu.

Our Incarcerated Scholars Program is facilitated within Valley State Prison, Central California Women’s Facility, Avenal State Prison and local youth detention facilities.

Higher Education Assistance for Incarcerated College Students

UC Davis USP partners with the Project Rebound Outreach Program (CSU-PROP), where formerly incarcerated students and alumni facilitate a five-week curriculum focusing on college readiness. CSU-PROP is currently facilitated on a rotation in four prisons within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Each cohort consists of three classes of 30 participants and following the five-week course of CSU-PROP hosts a culminating ceremony for class participants with pizza and certificates of completion.

Community College Ambassador Program

Our Ambassador Program is a year-long program that trains and supports formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students to serve as recruitment leaders on their community college campuses. BUS provides monthly training workshops and mentorship to our ambassadors. BUS Ambassadors represent BUS at their local community colleges by

• Hosting info sessions and workshops
• Tabling and doing outreach on campus
• Connect students to Underground Scholars resources

Overview and Responsibilities

• Attend 2 Monthly Meetings: One virtual and one at the UC campus closest to you.
• Start an organization on campus (if there isn't one already) for formerly incarcerated and system impacted students.
• Work with campus administrators to build support.
• Table every few weeks on campus quad or in your transfer center. We will provide you
  with materials.
• Host an event or two (and have a panel) at your community college. Members of Underground Scholars can come out to support.
• $1,000 stipend will be paid on completion in May

Campus tours and Outreach

Arranging visits and tours of UC Davis for prospective UC Davis students. We welcome students from the Rising Scholars network to come to campus and experience firsthand what resources are available for students transitioning to UC Davis.

Please contact our Program Coordinator, Trevor Clark, at treclark@ucdavis.edu  to discuss outreach requests.