Welcome to the UCLA Bruin Underground Scholars Program

We provide support to incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system impacted students by conducting outreach events, supporting them through community college, preparing them for the UC, sharing educational resources on how to apply to UCLA, coaching them through the UC application process, offering campus tours, and workshops to navigate the education system.

Our retention program provides formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students with a space on campus to meet and study, academic tutoring and advising, peer coaching, leadership development, student employment, community events, and workshops on how to navigate UCLA.

We advocate for currently and formerly incarcerated students and their families. In addition to individual advocacy for students on campus and on parole/probation, we engage in local, state, and national policy advocacy to remove barriers and create opportunity for currently and formerly incarcerated people. We also train formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students to be policy advocates.

Welcome to the Bruin Underground Scholars Resource Hub! You will find a thorough run down of all the most prominent resources under each category. Feel free to also sign up for office hours to speak with our students should you need any support throughout the process.

By Charletta Maria Royster McNeish
The historical record has shown the gradual evolution of oppression, starting with the enactment of Jim Crow legislation and culminating in the establishment of the metaphoric school-to-prison pipeline that creates barriers for people of color (e.g., Black men) from achieving academic and economic success. Educational attainment has been weaponized against these communities to maintain white dominance in society. These barriers are maintained through an imaginary yet real pipeline triggered by school exclusion. As there continues to be a shortage of diversity in teachers, ostracized children are falling through the cracks in the educational system. An imposed reputation of a deviant lifestyle creates profiling and police hostility, which further secludes children of color. Many of these children grow up to become adults in the criminal justice system. Those who do survive being decriminalized are usually working low-paying jobs and unable to live comfortably in society. Education can be the ultimate reform and be a catalyst for change. Higher educational attainment correlates with a decline in formerly incarcerated people becoming repeat offenders. Data collection includes mixed methods of semi-structured interviews, quantitative statistics data, and community dialogue. By highlighting the gaps in research, this study aims to contribute to dismantling the inefficiencies in educational disparities of the school-to-prison pipeline.