Student Affairs

5:15 a.m.: Wake up. My phone is my alarm, placed under my bed so I must get up to turn it off. Make my bed. Stretch.

Ish Verduzco has a weekday routine. It rarely varies more than 20 to 30 minutes a day.

5:20 a.m.: Listen to an audiobook while I brush my teeth and prep for my morning workout.

Being a university student is stressful on its own. Students who have an uncertain immigration status have an additional layer of worry.

The nearly 600 UC Merced students with undocumented status are finding support not only from the university, but from one another.

Many universities across the country have transitioned to remote instruction, which can present a new set of challenges to students who might not have access to the right equipment to complete their coursework.

Some students at UC Merced received additional help from HP, which donated 100 computers to the university in late spring. Sixty-nine of the laptops were used by incoming Bobcats participating in the Summer Bridge program.

UC Merced is one of the country’s best four-year universities for quality, affordability and alumni outcomes, according to Money’s 2020 Best Colleges rankings by value.

In its first year on the annual list, UC Merced is No. 76 out of 739 schools that met Money’s criteria for evaluation.

Bobcats go back to school today and while most are not physically returning to campus, there are still plenty of festivities planned to kick off the semester.

UC Merced’s support for students who are building leadership skills, engaging in community outreach or searching for careers is going strong during the campus’s move to remote instruction, with the Office of Leadership, Service and Career providing new webinars, online workshops and virtual events.

UC Merced is taking the necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of the campus community with the least amount of disruption to its mission of education, research and public service.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led the campus to implement social distancing by moving all classes to fully remote delivery. Classes are not cancelled. They will be delivered through online and remote platforms through the remainder of the spring semester.

Harrison Duran has always wanted to discover ‘the land before time,’ and his desire to dig up dinosaur bones led him to the Badlands of North Dakota, where Alice the Triceratops was waiting for him.

Undergraduates Victoria Arias and Cydney Caradonna entered UC Merced through different doors.

Arias was a freshman impressed with the campus and community. Caradonna was a transfer student and athlete sold on UC Merced’s championship women’s basketball team.

When Anna Ocegueda walks across the stage at UC Merced’s 2019 commencement, it will be not only a powerful moment for her, but for her family, too — and for the thousands of people who identify with her story.

Ocegueda is the daughter of migrant farm workers from Mexico and as one of five children, is the first in her family to graduate from a four-year university. This weekend, she receives her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in Spanish.