In two of the University's premier outreach programs MESA and EAOP, large numbers of historically underrepresented students are reported to be University-eligible. However, not all of these students opt to enroll in the University. In fact of the 7,777 seniors whose eligibility status can be determined, slightly less than half 3,653 were eligible for the University of California. However, only 1,446 students actually enrolled in the University, for a capture rate of about 40 percent. The Master Plan conceived of an even larger role for community colleges in providing lower division instruction for students who would then transfer to the University of California.
Community colleges offer two generalized kinds of transfer opportunities for California youth.
The other group of students are those who are not UC-eligible upon completion of high school and need their community college years to gain the skills necessary to compete in a University environment. For many high school students, the gap between their early high school course-taking patterns and their scholastic performance with University expectations is so great that even intense high school intervention cannot effectively close the gap. For these students, community colleges provide an important opportunity. The Puente project, which focus on improving transfer opportunities for Latino community college students, is an example of a community college-focused program which can improve diversity. While some university campuses have very strong working relationships with local community colleges and work hard to recruit potential students, others do not.