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SNOWE, COLLINS ANNOUNCE $2M IN GEAR UP FUNDS FOR UMAINE FARMINGTON

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins announced that the University of Maine at Farmington has been awarded a six-year, $2 million GEAR UP grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The funding will allow the University of Maine Farmington to work with the Jay School District, Maine School Administrative District #21, and Maine School Administrative District #43 to prepare low-income students for postsecondary education.

"The University of Maine Farmington has successfully utilized the GEAR UP program to help students prepare for post-secondary education for the past six years. We are pleased that the U.S. Department of Education is continuing its commitment to the University's efforts so that more of Maine's youth might have the opportunity to pursue the American dream of higher education," Senators Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement.

The GEAR UP program is a discretionary grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. GEAR UP provides five-year grants to States and partnerships to provide services at high-poverty middle and high schools. GEAR UP grantees serve an entire cohort of students beginning no later than the seventh grade and follow the cohort through high school. GEAR UP funds are also used to provide college scholarships to low-income students.

GEAR UP is unique since it employs partnerships committed to serving and accelerating the academic achievement of students through their high school graduation. GEAR UP partnerships supplement existing reform efforts, offer services that promote academic preparation and the understanding of necessary costs to attend college, provide professional development, and continuously build capacity so that projects can be sustained beyond the term of the grant.

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