UC Santa Cruz ranked as the fourth best university in the country for social mobility, according to the 2020 U.S. News and World Report rankings. In 2020, the campus will educate more than 5,700 students from low-income backgrounds. 

Compelled by values of social justice and equity, UC Santa Cruz rose to the challenge COVID-19 presented its students and community and took multiple actions to address economic disparities, including: 

  • Implementing the Slug Tech program, which provided laptops and internet modems to over 260 students.
  • Creating the Zoom Student Corps, a service that kept students employed by providing Zoom and virtual class assistance to faculty and provided on-demand support to student attendees.
  • Establishing a molecular diagnostics lab and worked with county and community partners to provide COVID-19 testing for low-income patients and members of the campus community.
  • Winning a county contract to provide approximately 1,000 daily meals to local shelters and emergency-service operations.