UW-Waukesha Gets $25K Grant For At-Risk Students

Editor's note: The following information was provided to Patch via a news release.

A $25,000 grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation will support the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha’s efforts to support and retain a population of students who are the most at risk of dropping out after their first year.

The retention rate of first year students who attend two-year public colleges like UW- Waukesha is 68 percent, which exceeds that of first year students attending four year colleges. However, first generation, low-income and minority students are more vulnerable to dropping out.

The grant, awarded to the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha Foundation through the Foundation’s third quarter competitive grantmaking cycle, supports the university’s Stay and Succeed Program. The program will help support first generation, low income and minority students and provide them access to resources, academic support, career exploration workshops, connections to peers, faculty and staff and other services throughout the academic year.

“There have been a lot of successful efforts that get first generation students to college. However, effective efforts that help the same students get through college have paled in comparison,” said Jeannie Fenceroy, a senior program officer at the Foundation. “That trend is changing and UW-Waukesha understands what it takes to support students to degree completion.”

Overall, the Foundation awarded more than $1,116,000 in grants through its third quarter competitive and discretionary grantmaking process.

ABOUT THE GREATER MILWAUKEE FOUNDATION

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation is a family of more than 1,100 individual charitable funds, each created by donors to serve the local charitable causes of their choice. Grants from these funds serve people throughout Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. Started in 1915, the Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the world.