[T]he Vermont Student Assistance Corp. will receive a $31 million federal grant over the next seven years to help get low-income and first-generation students college and career ready.
The GEAR UP grant will help more than 2,800 students at 38 different Vermont schools, according to VSAC. The money will help pay for one-on-one and group counseling for students in grades 7 through their freshman year of college. Programming focuses on academic skill-building, career-planning, help with applying to college and for financial aid, class advising and tutoring.
GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
The money will also help pay for a new math course VSAC is developing to try and help bridge the skills gap between high school and college, as well as college scholarships for qualified students.
“Vermont’s GEAR UP program, led by the talented counselors from VSAC, offers students and families the tools and information they need – and deserve – to build career opportunities. It’s why I have led the fight to preserve GEAR UP funding,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, said in a statement. Leahy announced the grant at an event at VSAC offices in Winooski on Friday, alongside representatives from the offices of Democratic Rep. Peter Welch and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
VSAC, a nonprofit created by the state in the 1960s to help Vermont students transition to life after high school, has been participating in GEAR UP since 1999, and has had its funding renewed each time it has applied for the competitive grant program. Its last grant, which expired in September, was also for $31 million. GEAR UP is VSAC’s largest federal grant.
VSAC President Scott Giles said the nonprofit was “relieved” to see its funding renewed after several attempts by the U.S. Department of Education to cut the program entirely.
“It’s been a battle that the delegation and Sen. Leahy in particular did a lot of heavy lifting on,” he said. Leahy is vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
About 99 percent of students participating in GEAR UP graduate from high school, according to figures provided by VSAC. That’s about 20 points higher than the 80 percent graduation rate for all students on free- and reduced-lunch. And while only 36 percent of students on free- and reduced lunch go on to enroll in college, 74 percent of participating GEAR UP students do.
