About Cal-SOAP

Mission

Since each Cal-SOAP project specializes in serving students within its community, the type of programs and services may differ. However, the projects share the common goal of improving the flow of information about postsecondary education and financial aid while raising achievement levels of targeted students. Some common services provided by the consortia include advising, tutoring, parent outreach, and college awareness workshops.

The Cal-SOAP program is administered by the California Student Aid Commission, with individual projects applying each year for continued state funding. The Student Aid Commission administers the program with the assistance of a 12-member, legislatively mandated advisory committee.

Cal-SOAP has extensive inter-segmental participation, including:

• Ninety-seven public school districts, from the largest in the state to small, rural districts plus fifty-one individual high schools
• Nine of the ten general campuses of the University of California system
• Eighteen of the twenty-three campuses of the California State University system
• Thirty-nine of the state's one hundred and eight community colleges- including all those in each area in which a project is located
• Seventeen of the seventy-one Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities members
• Forty-seven other community-based organizations