Cal-SOAP Provides Students with Academic and Support Services
Cal-SOAP (California Student Opportunity and Access Program) is one of 25-plus departments in the Division of Student Affairs. The college access and readiness program improves the flow of information about postsecondary education and financial aid while raising the achievement levels. Cal-SOAP serves any student in the Inland Empire but focuses on first-generation, college-bound, and low-income students in the 7th-12th grade.
Services to students include academic support, advising, tutoring, college and scholarship application assistance, financial aid workshops, parent engagement, summer programs, and college tours.
Cal-SOAP Director Roderick Figgs and his team also ensure students fill out their Free Application for Federal Aid and California Dream Act applications to prepare them for life after high school. They also inform students of all their postsecondary options.
“That's important because the cost of education is always a part of the conversation,” said Roderick. “It's very rare that you'll ever enter into a conversation about higher education without the mention of the cost of it.”
The program helps ensure that critical information about how to prepare for and access higher education empowers students, families, and entire communities.
Cal-SOAP projects operate in 15 locations throughout the state by a consortia made up of secondary and postsecondary schools and community agencies. It is funded and administered by the California Student Aid Commission.