Starting next fall, The University of Memphis, along with Washington State University, will be one of two colleges participating in the First Scholars program.
The program, created by the Suder Foundation, provides scholarships and other opportunities for students whose parents have no education beyond high school, called first-generation students. In fall of 2010, 39 percent of first-time, full-time freshmen were first-generation students at The U of M.
"First Scholars is a program that will help support first-generation students with a scholarship of $5,000 annually," said Stephanie Blaisdell, Assistant Vice President of Student Development.
To be eligible for the program, students must be first-generation students and incoming, full-time freshmen with demonstrable financial need. Students must also have a 19 on the ACT and/or a 3.0 GPA and meet a few other requirements, including the Student Strengths Inventory, a non-academic assessment.
"As part of the program, they will be required to live on campus and commit to a program where they will meet regularly with an adviser, have a student mentor and engage in some cultural activities, and eventually become a mentor themselves," Blaisdell said.
Starting next fall, 20 new students will join the program annually in groups called cohorts.
"They will meet regularly with the program coordinator and a peer mentor," said Cory Major, director of TRio Programs, which is overseeing the First Scholars program at The U of M. "There will also be social, cultural and academic programming that the entire cohort will participate in. In addition to mentoring, the program will work to ensure the scholars receive any needed tutoring."
The peer mentors will initially be recruited from the regular student body, but as the program grows, Major said the mentors will be upper class members of First Scholars.
"As the program matures, upper class scholars will assume this role as part of the program's ‘Pay It Forward' component," Major said. "These peer mentors will be integral in helping the scholars integrate into the U of M culture. This might include taking them to the first football game or answering questions about sorority recruitment versus new member intake."
Fourty-seven universities competed for the grant, and after several initial rounds, The U of M was one of four universities with a campus visit from the Suder Foundation, the organization that awarded the grant.
"They met with Dr.'s Raines, Faudree and Bingham, as well as a number of administrators who have had a role in the planning process," Major said. "But, I think it was the campus tour with two of our current first generation students that won them over."
