EAST LANSING, Mich. — A grant of more than $2 million from the U.S. Department of Education will allow Michigan State University to continue a program that provides much-needed assistance to students who are children of migrant farm workers.
The five-year, $424,000 per year grant will fund MSU’s College Assistance Migrant Scholars Initiative, a program that has helped hundreds of students earn degrees.
“This program focuses on getting the student in the door and through that first year of college,” said Luis Alonzo Garcia, director of MSU Migrant Student Services, which oversees the MSU CAMP Scholars Initiative. “All research shows that if a student can make it through the first year, then they are good to go.”
Initiated in 2000 at MSU, CAMP helps students in a variety of ways, and not just financially.
“MSU CAMP students have regular, one-on-one meetings with staff to make sure they are taking relevant courses and that they are orienting themselves to the university,” Garcia said.
In addition, all CAMP students live in MSU’s Holden Hall, which houses the program, allowing the students easy access to faculty and staff.
“Ninety percent plus of these students are first-generation college students,” Garcia said. “Their families live on the economic edge.
“Our job is to be the resource to make sure that they are getting the fundamental skills they need to negotiate their first year.”
CAMP is one of several programs that fall under the auspices of MSS. For more information, visit www.mss.msu.edu.
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