GEAR UP Program Helping Thousands of Students Prepare for Postsecondary Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 30, 2010

Program offers $9 million in scholarships to prepare state's future workforce

LANSING - Today Lieutenant Governor John D. Cherry, Jr., the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DELEG) along with King-Chavez-Parks (KCP) and Michigan State University celebrated Michigan GEAR UP Day (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) aimed at increasing the number of low-income and educationally disadvantaged students and preparing them to succeed and graduate from college.  The GEAR UP/College Day (GU/CD) Program expands the existing state-funded Martin Luther King-Caesar Chavez-Rosa Parks (KCP) College Day Program administered by Michigan's 15 public universities.  Of the total $18 million award over six years, $9 million of the funding is dedicated to scholarships administered by the Michigan Department of Treasury.  

"GEAR UP is helping kids all around Michigan achieve their goal of a postsecondary education," said Cherry, chair of the Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth.  "Governor Granholm and I have been and will continue to be extremely focused on providing all residents with the necessary tools to stay in Michigan and compete in a rapidly changing economy.  We must continue to stress the value of a college education for all Michiganders." 

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today also proclaimed September 30 as GEAR UP Day in Michigan to coincide with the national GEAR UP Day and to impress upon every Michigan student the value of a college education.  The proclamation was presented by Cherry at today's celebratory reception held at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.  Today's program included parents and students who discussed how GEAR UP has impacted their lives, as well as university, legislative, and state dignitaries.  

The GEAR UP College Day Program currently serves 10,144 students in 59 individual schools in 38 urban and rural targeted school districts.  The program services began in 2006 with a cohort of seventh and eighth grade students and are continuing with the same students who are now eleventh and twelfth graders during this 2010-2011 academic year.  Services include academic advising, tutoring, mentoring, career and college preparation, financial aid workshops, professional development for teachers and counselors, and College Goal Sunday. 

The GEAR UP College Day Program is building upon ongoing reform efforts across the state to leverage the greatest educational benefits possible for Michigan students.  

• The GEAR UP College Day Program contributed $200,000 to the development of the Michigan College Access Portal, a new centralized website at www.michigancap.org that offers information for students and parents to plan, apply, and pay for college. 
• The KCP initiative section collaborates with the following partners to support college access and student retention efforts around the state:  Policy Division of the Office of the Governor; Michigan College Access Network (MCAN); Michigan Campus Compact (MCC); Michigan Foundation for Educational Leadership (MFEL); Michigan College Advising Corp; Arc Michigan; Imagine Fund; and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).  

GEAR UP is authorized by the 1998 amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965.  

# # #