Access to the Science Education of a Four-Year Liberal Arts College for Economically Disadvantaged Students

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The college seeks to attract a larger and more diverse student population to its science community, increase enrollment and graduation rates in the sciences, and, in collaboration with Massasoit Community College, grow the community college science transfer track. The program requires increased financial aid in order to attract more underrepresented science majors. The project allows expansion of an existing Science Talent Expansion Program (STEP) grant by offering science scholarships to deserving, financially disadvantaged students with an emphasis on minorities. The project is funding 14 four-year scholarships for first-year students and ten two-year scholarships for Massasoit transfers. These scholarships average $7,500 annually, depending on the recipients' financial needs. Intellectual Merit: Using best practices to promote increased participation in the sciences, the college is working with disadvantaged area high schools and with Massasoit to provide a student-centered approach to science learning and to improve science advising that helps students transfer to four-year undergraduate institutions. With a sound foundation on which to build, the scholarship program provides an additional incentive--increasing access to a high-quality, interdisciplinary and experiential science education. Broader Impact: This project serves as a model illustrating how a private liberal arts college can collaborate with a community college to improve transfer access and illustrating how high school students can benefit from pre-college educational opportunities and college scholarship funding. The broader impact of this project is a larger and more diverse science workforce for the region. In the northeastern United States, where the scientific and biotechnology sectors are particularly strong, increasing the number of biology, chemistry, physics, neuroscience, and biochemistry graduates at the two institutions is having a significant impact on workforce development.