By Jeff Brumley
Mercer University has received a $1.1 million federal grant to improve the retention, gradate and financial literacy of non-traditional students.
The university reported this week that the U.S. Department of Education Student Support Services awarded the funds, which will be distributed at $220,000 annually over a five-year period.
Mercer’s Macon campus and its Regional Academic Centers in Douglas and Henry counties will be the beneficiaries of the grant, the university said in an Aug. 12 news release.
The federal money will provide scholarships for 140 low-income, first-generation and/or disabled students. An office, a director, administrative assistant and two counselors will also be funded through the grant, the university said.
“This new … program is an excellent opportunity to provide additional and more individualized services to the many non-traditional students at the University,” Michelle A. Currie, director of Mercer’s Federal TRIO programs, said in the Mercer news release.
The federal Student Support Services is one of eight TRIO programs designed to identify and serve students from disadvantaged backgrounds.