MI GEAR UP
Michigan, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
The GEAR UP Mission
The
mission of the GEAR UP program is to significantly increase the number
of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in post
secondary education. This is done by promoting academic excellence
through a variety of locally designed and innovative early intervention
services. It prepares our future workforce for jobs in Michigan's
rapidly diversifying economy essential to the state's economic viability
and competitiveness in a knowledge-based, global economy. It reduces
the number of individuals requiring remediation and the cost of
re-training high school graduates for new jobs. GEAR UP increases
students' proficiency in math, science, reading, and technology to
better prepare students for college and the workplace.
History of GEAR UP
GEAR UP was established by the 1998 amendments
to the Higher Education Act of 1965 to serve the needs of the nation's
low-income and most educationally disadvantaged students. The program is
administered and funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the
Martin Luther King*César Chávez*Rosa Parks (KCP) Initiative. The
state-funded program is administered by Michigan's 15 public
universities by the Michigan Department of Energy Labor & Economic
Growth, Bureau of Workforce Transformation, and Division of Lifelong
Learning. GEAR UP supports students along the academic pipeline
beginning in 7th grade with college preparation.
