APTOS — In 2012, Jesse Silva was serving in the military in Afghanistan, battling the Taliban. A year later, he was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail through Yosemite National Park.
That, he said, was the beginning of an educational path that would begin at Cabrillo College.
Silva was speaking at the Community College Transfer Experience on Monday at Cabrillo College.
“I wanted to go to UC (Santa Cruz) because I promised myself, that maybe after the war I owed it to myself to be successful,” he said. “And I owed it to those men who didn’t come back. I had to make something happen, and I wanted to give myself the best.”
Silva was joined onstage by UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Cabrillo President Laurel Jones and UC President Janet Napolitano.
In the audience were students from Cabrillo, along with those from Hartnell, Gavilan and Monterey Peninsula colleges.
Silva started at Cabrillo in June 2014, and soon transferred to the university.
“In June 2018 I will be up at UCSC graduating with a double major in philosophy and politics,” he said, which drew loud applause.
The Community College Transfer Experience was created to encourage community college students to transfer to a four-year university, and to tout financial programs and other incentives that make such transfers possible.
Napolitano, who formerly served as the Governor of Arizona and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, said that about 30 percent of the undergraduate students are transfers from community colleges.
“And we want to increase even that number,” she said.
In addition, 42 percent of undergraduates are the first in their families to go to college, she said.
Those students can be part of the university’s “First-Gen” program, made up of more than 900 faculty members who share that experience, and who volunteer to serve as mentors for those students.
Napolitano also said that 57 percent of UC students take advantage of the Blue and Gold program, which allows low-income students to attend with no tuition or fees.
As for fears over college debt, Napolitano said that half of students graduate with none, and that the average for those that do is $20,000, a cost she likened to a new, medium-sized car.
UCSC also has created programs that make it easier to transfer community college credits, Napolitano said.
“I want you to know that the doors to the university are open, and the opportunity is there,” she said.
Blumenthal admitted he was biased after painting a bright picture of the UC experience.
“But my message today is unbiased,” he said. “Move on to a 4-year UC campus and do it wherever you choose … What matters is that you go and do transfer and you get that bachelor’s degree.”
But not everyone in the audience was happy with the message.
UC Santa Cruz student Max Jimenez came to the event with a group of students holding protest signs demanding that the college provide adequate support to existing students.
Jimenez said that students currently pack into crowded lecture halls, jockey for scarce time with professors and fight for transportation and other limited resources.
“Getting in is one thing,” she said. “We need to make sure the students have everything they need.”
Jimenez also pointed out that the UC system recently imposed a 2.5 percent tuition increase.
One of the signs her fellow students was carrying displayed the message, “Janet Napolitano, your salary is $570,000. That’s nice. My college debt will follow me to my grave.”
