Higher Education Week

The Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) at UC Santa Barbara will hold its annual spring Higher Education Week, a four-day traveling college fair, beginning Tuesday, March 14. Representatives from universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education will visit high school campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties to meet with high school juniors and discuss post-secondary education opportunities.

The visits include brief presentations on financial aid and college admissions followed by college fairs. The first will take place at Santa Maria, Righetti and Pioneer Valley high schools on Tuesday, March 14. The event will move to San Marcos, Santa Barbara and Carpinteria high schools Wednesday, March 15. College fairs and presentations will be held at Hueneme, Oxnard and Rio high schools Thursday, March 16, with a Parent Night at Santa Paula High School from 5 to 7 p.m. The week will conclude with visits to Fillmore, Santa Paula and Channel Islands high schools Friday, March 17.

In all, more than 4,000 high school juniors will meet with representatives from the UC, Cal State and California Community College systems. A host of other private and public colleges and universities will be represented, including Westmont College, California Lutheran University, the New School of Architecture and Design, the San Francisco Academy of Art, and the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, among others.

Out-of-state colleges and universities represented include the University of Hawaii, Manoa; Syracuse University; Washington Sate University; the University of Arizona; the University of Idaho; the University of Nevada, Reno; and the American University of Paris.

Also participating in the event is the Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation.

UCSB EAOP seeks to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps to increase the number of students who have the opportunity to attain a postsecondary education. EAOP focuses on four key strategies — academic advising, college knowledge, academic enrichment and entrance exam preparation — to help students reach college eligibility and participate in higher education.

A variety of pre-college programs offered on an annual basis give students the opportunity to visit UCSB, tour campus labs, meet with faculty members and conduct research or participate in other academic enrichment activities. Among the programs and services are annual transcript evaluation, academic advisement, academic achiever’s receptions, study skills and testing strategies, college readiness seminars, the Education-Leadership-Careers Conference, UC Success Night and college readiness academies.