UAB awarded $3.5 million in federal grants to help Birmingham high school students, UAB undergrads

Two of the grants will benefit  students from Carver, Jackson-Olin, Parker, Tarrant and Bessemer high schools.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded three highly competitive federal grants to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, via TRIO grants.

The grants will provide college prep services to 120 students from Carver, Jackson-Olin, Parker, Tarrant and Bessemer high schools.

ACT boot camps, scholarships, more

The money from the grants will pay for services like ACT boot camps, scholarship assistance, advising and financial aid.

In addition, the grants will provide money for financial literacy classes, cultural activities, career mentoring and college visits. These services are a part of a federal program called Upward Bound.

Upward Bound Program

Upward Bound provides opportunities for high school students to succeed in their pre-college performance and ultimately in their higher education pursuits. The program serves students from low-income families and from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree.

TRIO Grants

The Federal TRIO Programs (TRIO) are Federal outreach and student services programs. They include eight programs targeted to serve low-income individuals, first-generation college students and individuals with disabilities. The goal of the program is to help students progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to college.

“The federal TRIO programs began as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty and were designed to level the playing field for talented students who may be overlooked or forgotten,” said Tracy Lyon, principal investigator and executive director of Undergraduate Student Success and Retention at UAB.

“With the five programs, UAB will be able to provide both college access and college success programming to students from high school to graduate school.”

McNair Summer Research Program

The grant money will also help UAB students via the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. UAB named the program in honor of Dr. Ronald E. McNair.

McNair was the second African-American to fly in space and one of the seven-person crew who died during the launch of the Challenger space shuttle in 1986.

The program prepares high-achieving UAB undergraduates for doctoral study. It provides research opportunities, faculty mentoring, internships, counseling, tutoring and graduate school visits.