Student success through Community Engagement

University of California, Santa Cruz

Since its founding in 1965, the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) has earned international distinction as a university with high-impact research and an uncommon commitment to teaching and public service. A campus with one of the most visually spectacular settings in higher education, UCSC offers rigorous academic programs and cutting-edge research opportunities that teach students how to think, not what to think. Commitments to environmental stewardship and community engagement are central to UCSC’s core values. 

The campus, a Hispanic serving institution, has more than 60 majors. Graduate students at USCS can earn advanced degrees from more than 40 programs. The relatively small size of the campus’s graduate-student body provides tremendous opportunities for students at all levels. Graduate students establish close relationships with faculty mentors, and undergraduates have unique opportunities to work on major research projects side-by-side with graduate students and faculty. As of spring 2017, there were 16,962 undergraduates and 1,821graduate students enrolled (18,783 total). Of this student population, 68% identified as students of color (with the largest group being Latinx at 29%) and 4.5% were international students. Approximately half (52.6%) of all students live in campus housing, and almost all (98.9%) of first year students live on campus. The first year retention rate is 90%, the four-year graduation rate is 49%, and the six-year graduation rate is 77%.

UCSC provides many opportunities for community engagement. Opportunities are available through the colleges (undergraduate interdisciplinary living and learning communities), resource centers, academic departments, and student-initiated projects.

Community engagement programs being evaluated

Demographics

What is the University of California at Santa Cruz? 

UCSC’s mission is to be a leading research university with a tradition of innovation in the education of students—built on values of social and environmental responsibility. It is:

  • A public research university 
  • One of the smaller campuses within the University of California system
  • A Hispanic serving institution
  • Made up of five academic divisions and 10 undergraduate colleges
  • A land-grant university

Information about campus community 

What characterizes your community?

  • Nestled in the Santa Cruz Redwods
  • Near Silicon Valley
  • The colleges follow the Oxford Model, and is the only public university in the U.S. to do so. 
  • Several resource centers:
    • African American Resource and Cultural Center
    • American Indian Resource Center
    • Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center
    • Chicano Latino Resource Center
    • Lionel Cantú Queer Center
    • Women’s Center
    • Educational Opportunities Program
    • Services for Transfer, Veteran, and Re-entry Students 
    • SOAR/Student Media/Cultural Arts and Diversity

Information on campus and student demographics

General campus demographics

  • 150+ student organizations.
  • More than 60 undergraduate majors
  • More than 40 graduate degree programs

Spring 2017 student demographics

  • 16,962 undergraduate students
  • 1,821 graduate students
  • 18,783 total students
  • 49% four year graduation rate; 77% six year graduation rate
  • 90% first-year retention rate
  • Students of color: 10,077
    • Am Indian: 139
    • Asian: 4,480
    • Black: 667
    • Pacific Islander: 69
    • Latinx: 4,722
  • White, unknown, or international: 6251
    • White: 5,215
    • Unknown: 297
    • International: 739
  • Gender 
    • Male: 7,907
    • Female: 8,285
    • Another option (e.g., trans, non-binary, agender) or decline to state: 136
  • New student characteristics:
    • 5,357 total
    • Students of color: 3,157
    • White, unknown, or international: 2,200

Other resources