Program Information

Services

A few of the resources BUS offers includes:

• BUS Scholarship funding is awarded based on financial need; students must complete a FAFSA application to determine eligibility.
• Newsletters with a variety of resources and services
• Employment and internship opportunities
• Workshops, outings and other community building events (visit our events page)

In order to access these resources you must be considered an active member and satisfy our eligibility requirements. For specific information regarding prospective students, continuing or graduate students please see the appropriate tab under “For Students.”

Eligibility

Eligibility for the Bruin Underground Scholars Program is open to UCLA students who are formerly incarcerated and/or system-impacted, including those affected by incarceration within their immediate family members. Participants must be enrolled at UCLA and committed to engaging in BUS programming and community support. The program aims to foster academic success, personal growth, and leadership development.

Recruitment

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.

• Ambassador Program: Employment, training, and leadership development for formerly incarcerated community college students.
• Campus Tours & Outreach: Tours and workshops for carceral-system-impacted community college and high school students.
• Incarcerated Scholars Program: Correspondence academic advising for incarcerated community college students.

Retention

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.

• Student Organizations: We support student orgs that support, or advocate for, formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students by building community, hosting events, and engaging on campus.
• Research: We provide support and guidance for our members to pursue top research opportunities.
• Leadership Development: We provide training and opportunities for students to engage as leaders in BUS, formerly incarcerated and system-impacted (FISI) student groups, and the broader community. We do this through political education, creating opportunities for students to teach & present their research, creating supported leadership roles for students, and connecting students to other leaders and mentors at UCLA and beyond.
• Jobs/Scholarships/Stipends: We employ students to support our programs. We offer basic needs and transition stipends to current students. We also support scholarship applications.
• Space & Other Resources: We have dedicated space in Bruin Resource Center B44 where students can meet, study, get support, coffee/tea, and free printing.
• Department of Rehabilitation: We guide students through the application process to receive off-campus financial support.
• Orientation: We host a yearly orientation for incoming Underground Scholars.
• End Of Year Celebration: We hold a yearly end-of-year celebration and support students with the purchase of a cap and gown.
• BUS Scholarship: provides financial support to UCLA students who are system-impacted or formerly incarcerated, helping reduce financial barriers and promote academic success.

Advocacy

We advocate for currently and formerly incarcerated students, as well as 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 opportunities for currently and formerly incarcerated people. We also train formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students to be policy advocates.

• Access to Higher Education: We are working to build a prison-to-university pipeline by increasing the number of formerly incarcerated people in higher education. We do this in our own program and also by supporting students who advocate for policies that increase access to higher education for all currently and formerly incarcerated individuals.
• Individual Advocacy: We provide individual advocacy to students facing discrimination or barriers to education, employment, housing, and benefits due to their arrest and/or criminal conviction history.
• Legislative Advocacy: In partnership with the Berkeley Underground Scholars Policy Fellow Program, we train and support students in leading state legislative advocacy efforts to pass bills in support of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students.
• Language: We advocate for the use of humanizing language when referring to people with convictions. Our common vernacular – in conversation, in the law, in media, and in academia – is filled with dehumanizing language. We denounce labels like “felon”, “ex-offender”, “inmate”, and “criminal” and insist on being called what we are – people.
• Letters of Support: We offer letters of support for parole hearings for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students we work with.

Wellness

• Wellness Workshops: We host wellness workshops to allow students to decompress and build community.
• We hold wellness events on and off campus, such as community circles, connection to therapy and wellness support, and socials.