Pallone Announces Grants to Help Low-Income and First-Generation College Students in New Jersey

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2015


WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) announced that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $513,812 grant to Rutgers University-New Brunswick and a $288,729 grant to Middlesex County College through the Student Support Services Program (SSS). The purpose of SSS is to provide academic and other support services to low-income, first-generation and disabled college students to increase retention and graduation rates.

“Any student, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to earn a college degree. Yet, low-income and first-generation students often must take on part-time jobs and other responsibilities that can reduce the chances of graduating from a four-year college,” said Congressman Pallone. “This grant will help Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Middlesex County College empower these students to overcome these barriers increase graduation rates.”

“We are pleased with the success of our grant as this was a very competitive cycle,” said Patrick Madama, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Middlesex County College. “This funding continues support of our Project Connections program, designed to develop the skills needed for students with learning disabilities to compete successfully in college. The program provides these students supplemental services including: individual needs assessment, individual and group tutorial support, counseling interventions, an intrusive coaching intervention, a freshman course sequence, transfer support, self-advocacy skill development and financial literacy to ultimately assist them in achieving a college degree. Our data indicates that Project Connections participants perform better than matched cohorts of students in retention, satisfactory progress and graduation/transfer rates.”

The program, funded by the grant award, seeks to significantly increase the GPA, retention and graduation rates of its participants by investing in one-on-one academic, career, financial literacy and personal counseling, along with technology workshops, peer mentoring, and other services.