University of the Pacific & Stockton Scholars Uplift Students

For Jeremy Pleitez '29, the road to college was never a question of ambition—it was a question of affordability. Growing up in Stockton, California, Pleitez and his family always envisioned a future that included higher education, but the financial reality of tuition, fees, and living costs threatened to keep that dream just out of reach. Then Stockton Scholars stepped in, and the trajectory of his life changed.

Pleitez's story, highlighted in a University of the Pacific newsroom feature published on Saturday, May 24, 2026, puts a human face on a partnership that is quietly reshaping college access in one of California's most economically diverse cities. It also illustrates how Pacific's institutional mission—anchored in community engagement and social mobility—intersects with grassroots organizations to produce tangible outcomes for students who might otherwise never set foot on a university campus.

What Is Stockton Scholars, and Why Does It Matter?

Stockton Scholars is a college-readiness and financial assistance program operated by the Reinvent Stockton Foundation, a nonprofit established with the goal of expanding opportunity in Stockton. Since its launch in 2019, the program has offered financial assistance, mentorship, and professional development opportunities to graduates of the city's public high schools. According to Pacific's newsroom, the initiative has benefitted more than 4,000 local youth, including hundreds who have enrolled at Pacific.

The significance of that number becomes clearer when set against the broader context of Stockton itself. Located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, Stockton has long grappled with high poverty rates and below-average college-going figures compared to state averages. Programs like Stockton Scholars serve as a critical bridge, not just covering tuition gaps but wrapping students in a support network—mentors, workshops, peer cohorts—that makes persistence and graduation more likely. For a city still shaking off the national stigma of its 2012 municipal bankruptcy, the program represents a forward-looking investment in human capital.

How Has Pacific Become a Key Partner in This Effort?

University of the Pacific occupies a distinctive position in the Stockton community. As the city's largest private university—and one of the oldest chartered institutions in California, founded in 1851—Pacific has long viewed its relationship with Stockton as both a responsibility and an asset. The university's Community Involvement Program (CIP), its health clinics serving underserved populations, and its deep faculty engagement in regional issues all reflect an institution that understands its fortunes are intertwined with those of its home city.

The Stockton Scholars partnership is a natural extension of that philosophy. By accepting and supporting hundreds of Scholars recipients, Pacific provides a high-quality, small-class educational environment for students who might otherwise have limited options. In return, those students bring lived experience and community ties that enrich classroom discussions and campus culture. It is a symbiotic relationship, and one that distinguishes Pacific from many peer institutions in the West Coast Conference (WCC), where town-gown dynamics can be more distant.

This commitment to accessibility parallels Pacific's strengths in professional fields. The university's nationally recognized programs in pharmacy, dentistry, and law—all housed on its Sacramento and San Francisco campuses—serve as aspirational pathways for students like Pleitez. Indeed, Pacific faculty continue to distinguish themselves in applied scholarship; a recent example is a Pacific pharmacy professor earning a prestigious Fulbright award, further affirming the caliber of the academic community that Scholars students are joining.

Who Is Jeremy Pleitez, and What Does His Journey Tell Us?

Jeremy Pleitez '29 recently completed his first year at Pacific as a computer science major. He is the first in his family to pursue a college degree, a milestone that carries enormous symbolic and practical weight. First-generation college students nationwide face steeper odds: research from the National Center for Education Statistics consistently shows they are less likely to persist past their second year and less likely to graduate within six years compared to peers whose parents hold degrees.

For Pleitez, Stockton Scholars did more than write a check. The program's combination of financial assistance and mentorship gave him the confidence and resources to envision himself on a university campus. "Being able to attend college because of Stockton Scholars and other aid from Pacific" changed everything, Pleitez indicated in the university's feature. His story is not an outlier. Across the country, place-based scholarship programs—from the Kalamazoo Promise in Michigan to Say Yes to Education in New York—have demonstrated that removing the financial barrier can unlock aspiration at scale. Stockton Scholars is Stockton's answer to that national movement.

Pleitez's choice of computer science is also noteworthy. Pacific's School of Engineering and Computer Science has invested significantly in modernizing its curriculum and expanding experiential learning opportunities, including partnerships with Silicon Valley firms accessible from the university's tri-city campus network. For a first-generation student from Stockton, the ability to pursue a high-demand STEM degree without crushing debt is precisely the kind of upward mobility these programs are designed to create.

Why Does This Partnership Matter Beyond Stockton?

The collaboration between Pacific and Stockton Scholars offers a replicable model for mid-sized private universities across the country. Too often, conversations about college access center on large public systems or elite institutions with billion-dollar endowments. Pacific shows that private universities with enrollments under 10,000 can play an outsized role in their communities by aligning financial aid strategy with local scholarship infrastructure.

The WCC, Pacific's home conference, includes institutions like Gonzaga, Santa Clara, and the University of San Francisco—schools that similarly emphasize mission-driven education and community engagement rooted in their respective cities. But Pacific's relationship with Stockton Scholars is distinctive in its depth and its focus on a city that national media has often characterized through a deficit lens. Every Scholars recipient who earns a Pacific degree rewrites part of that narrative.

There is also a broader demographic reality at play. California's public high schools are producing increasingly diverse graduating classes, many from families with no college experience. If private universities want to remain relevant and enroll talented students, partnerships like this one are not optional—they are strategic imperatives. Pacific, under the leadership of President Christopher Callahan, appears to recognize this, consistently emphasizing community impact as a pillar of the university's identity.

For students, alumni, and fans who want to show their connection to this Stockton institution, the Always A Tiger Burns Tower T-Shirt features Pacific's iconic campus landmark and serves as a reminder that the Tiger community extends well beyond graduation day.

What Comes Next for Stockton Scholars and Pacific?

As Stockton Scholars enters its seventh year of operation, the program's impact is compounding. Each graduating cohort of Stockton public high school students includes more individuals who have benefitted from Scholars mentorship—even those who ultimately attend other institutions. For Pacific specifically, the pipeline of academically prepared, financially supported local students strengthens enrollment stability and campus diversity at a time when many small private universities face existential demographic headwinds.

Pleitez, for his part, still has three years of coursework ahead. If the early trajectory is any indication, he will graduate into a technology labor market that is hungry for talent and into a Pacific alumni network that is loyal and engaged. The broader Pacific community—encompassing competitive WCC athletics programs, nationally ranked professional schools, and deep roots in three California cities—gives Scholars students like Pleitez far more than a diploma. It gives them a platform.

The real measure of success for this partnership will emerge over the next decade, as the first full generation of Stockton Scholars alumni establish careers, return to their community, and begin mentoring the next cohort. If Pacific and the Reinvent Stockton Foundation sustain their commitment, Stockton's story—and the story of students like Jeremy Pleitez—will look fundamentally different than it did just a few years ago.