It also puts much-needed information into the hands of parents who might not have time to gather it on their own. The program, started in 1998, links high-poverty middle schools with community and business organizations and local colleges and universities. The partnerships developed through the program assist families with the college application process and help prepare students academically for college. U.S. Department of Education. Key activities include tutoring, counseling for students and parents, mentoring, and visits to college campuses to meet with faculty and advisers.
Students remain in the program until they graduate from high school.
Schools applying for grants must demonstrate that they have significant need for support services for poor and minority students and the ability to raise matching funds. They must also supply a proposal that illustrates how school officials plan to address aspects of the need for support services and evidence of a partnership with a college and at least two other organizations, according to Maureen McLaughlin, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Post-Secondary Education . Low-income students in both urban and rural areas face many of the same obstacles in attending college, McLaughlin said. The big issues are whether they are academically prepared and whether they have taken a strong and demanding sequence of courses. We also need to increase awareness of what college is and what colleges are available.