Last Updated on September 9, 2014
Thousands of students from Sacramento, the East Bay and San Francisco Bay Area, the Central Valley and the Inland Empire will gather at churches schools, and community centers, to explore the possibilities of attending college at one of the United College Action Network’s (U-CAN) Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) partners.
High school students will meet with recruiters and admissions counselors from 30-40 HBCUs during U-CAN’s 15th annual “Historically Black” college recruitment fair tour in nine California cities and Las Vegas, NV from September 8 through September 20.
HBCU admissions and recruitment officers, representing hundreds of majors and professional degrees, will be available to answer questions, take applications, review transcripts, provide financial aid information, waive application fees and admit and offer scholarships to qualified students on the spot.
U-CAN’s college fairs are free and open to all students and will include two Spanish language recruiters. Parents are encouraged to attend with their students.
“We pride ourselves on working with students who may not have the highest GPA but who desires to go to a four-year college or university and is willing to do the work to get it done,” said Dr. Alan Rowe, president of U-CAN. “Our goal is to get as many youth as possible, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, background, or economic status, to the fair and into college.”
Founded in Sacramento, California in 1988, U-CAN is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to inspire, prepare, and support students, especially economically and culturally disadvantaged and at-risk youth, in gaining admission to and graduating from four-year colleges and universities. U-CAN has assisted more than 56,000 students through its high school programs that prepare students for academic and career success after high school. More than half of U-CAN scholars who go to college choose to attend an HBCU. Since its inception, more than 15,000 U-CAN scholars have been admitted to HBCUs, of which 6,000 received $54 million ($54,000,000) in scholarship from U-CAN’s HBCU partners.
UCAN focuses on HBCU’s because their mission and values matches its own. Rowe said HBCUs’ 18-1 to 25-1 student/faculty ratio provide a smaller more nurturing environments that “many of our students need to flourish during the four-year college experience.”
Moreover, HBCUs are more open to working with promising students with marginal grade point averages, and have proven and effective education strategies that ensure academic success and high graduation rates, Rowe said.
The financial bottom line is that “HBCUs are more affordable than many colleges in California’s state and university systems and provide the same quality of education and training,” Rowe said. In addition to foreign study programs and internships, Rowe said many HBCUs have partnerships that allow their students to transfer to other top universities in the country.
Rowe, who founded U-CAN with his wife Donna Rowe, stresses opportunity in education for all students. He said, “We have expanded our college recruitment fair from Sacramento to throughout Northern California, including the Bay Area including, for the first time San Francisco, the Central Valley and California’s Inland Empire.
“Our goal is to include all ethnic and cultural groups shut out of mainstream academia who can benefit from the wonderful opportunities offered by HBCUs.”
Graduating seniors should bring several copies of their transcript, SAT/ACT scores (if taken), two letters of recommendation and a personal essay, if available, in order to qualify for on-the-spot admission. High School Juniors are also encouraged to attend and should bring copies of their transcripts.
Students are encouraged to register online for the college fair they wish to attend at www.gotocollegefairs.com/california.For more information visit U-CAN’s website at www.ucangotocollege.org or contact U-CAN at 916-896-3000 and by email at ucan@ucangtc.org
