UW News

September 23, 1998

Grant will help encourage low-income and first-generation students to go to college

News and Information

A four-year, $1.3 million grant to the University of Washington will be used to encourage students who might not think of higher education to include college in their plans for the future.

The Educational Talent Search, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is not a recruitment program for the UW, notes Julian Argel, the Talent Search director. The program targets low income students and those who have never had a family member attend college.
Through workshops and presentations, the Talent Search counselors try to demystify the world of higher education, especially issues surrounding admissions and financial aid. Through campus visits (to the UW and other universities) and special programs, the counselors work to expose students to college life so they can begin to visualize themselves as tomorrow’s college graduates. The program attempts to involve the student’s family in the preparation and planning for post-secondary education.

The Talent Search efforts will be focus on high schools and middle schools in Snohomish, Skagit and Yakima counties. The goal is to reach at least 600 students with information that may help them decide to go to college.

This Talent Search grant is a renewal of a previous four-year grant. In 1996, under the previous grant, 724 students participated in the program, of whom 183 were graduating seniors. Of those graduating, 103 reported that they were going on to post-secondary education, a high percentage for low-income and possible first-generation college students.

The first year federal award is $233,239. The Talent Search is 92 percent financed with federal funds; eight percent, or $17,277, is from nonfederal sources

###
For more information contact Julian Argel, Talent Search Director, 206-616-1948.