Glenn Thompson announces $238,491 to University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

News Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-Howard, today announced the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $238,491 to the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford through a competitive grant process for Student Support Services (SSS).  The grant is expected to cover the period of September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011 and is expected to be continued for a total of five years and more than a million dollars.

“I’m extremely delighted that the U. S. Department of Education decided to renew our program for another five years,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, Pitt-Bradford president.  “Our staff members in the Student Support Services program are outstanding professionals who focus on helping first-generation students complete a college education.  Obviously, officials in the Department of Education were sufficiently impressed with the outcomes of their work as to award another $1.1 million to continue the work.”

“Under the Student Support Services (SSS) program, the funds are designated to provide academic help and other services to low-income, first-generation or disabled college students to help keep them in school to graduate,” said Thompson.  “It can help with transfers from two-year to four-year colleges and can include financial help and mentoring.”

According to Alexander, the SSS program at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will use the funds to support 160 students per year with their supportive services.  Those services include financial aid information, graduate and professional school counseling, personal coaching, self-paced computer tutorials, study-skills workshops and others.

Following intensive pre-and post-selection academic assessments, SSS staff work with newly admitted participants to design an individualized academic plan for each student.

In 2008-2009, 54.5% of Pitt-Bradford students met SSS eligibility requirements.  The SSS project’s design provides optimum support to encourage academic success, persistence, graduation, and further graduate and/or professional studies if the participants so choose.  To date, 67 students served by SSS have earned their first bachelor’s degree, 14 have earned an associate degree, and 12 have entered graduate school or returned to receive teaching certificates.