SCHEV awards more than $7.4 million to support Pell-eligible students at Virginia Tech
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) awarded more than $7.4 million to support three Pell Initiative for Virginia projects to support students at Virginia Tech.
The College Access Collaborative received $3,461,560 for VT GPS – Graduation Plan for Success, a three-part project that focuses on Virginia-wide pre-college outreach and engagement, summer math support and tutoring, and scholarships for Summer Start. Karen Eley Sanders, associate vice provost for College Access and one of the three leads on the program, said the funding will allow an already successful program to expand.
“Pell-eligible students and first-gen students who enroll at Virginia Tech do better than the population does nationally,” Sanders said. “We have a track record of attracting, retaining, and graduating students from those underrepresented and underserved communities, and the additional resources really allows us to serve more underrepresented and underserved students, which aligns with our land-grant mission and our motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).”
Undergraduate Academic Affairs received $569,980 for Hokie Summer Scholars, a new program that will allow Pell-eligible students to enroll in coursework to fill gaps in their first-year transcripts and provide a paid undergraduate research opportunities. Jill Sible, associate provost for undergraduate education, is leading this program and said giving students a chance to recover course credit while gaining paid experiential learning opportunities will help curb the attrition rate among Pell eligible students.
“The university has the opportunity to better serve our Pell students through a summer experience in which they are offered a customized curriculum while participating in undergraduate research, a high impact practice,” Sible said. “Too often, Pell students lack access to either of these opportunities because they need to work at a summer job unrelated to their major.”
The Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity within the College of Engineering received $3,467,623 to implement eleVaTed Scholars, a comprehensive project that will utilize proven high-impact strategies to address the multifaceted challenges faced by Pell-eligible students in the college, ensuring equitable access, fostering social and cultural capital, providing robust academic support, and enhancing students’ sense of belonging. DeAnna Katey, director of undergraduate student programs for the College of Engineering, is one of the three leads for this program and said the initiative will help keep engineering students on track to graduation.
“As a former Pell-eligible student, I understand the burden of paying for college and wanted to create this opportunity to allow students to attend Virginia Tech without the burden of having to figure out how to pay for college and to have the support they need while here,” Katey said.
Funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Legislature, the Pell Initiative for Virginia encourages and supports state-supported post-secondary colleges and universities to expand the enrollment, retention, and degree attainment of Pell Grant eligible students. SCHEV and state legislative funding for programs that support Pell eligible students further reinforces Virginia Tech’s commitment to remove barriers for students through Virginia Tech Advantage.
