91³ÉÈË

$2.9 Million Grant to Help Retain and Graduate Hispanic Students

San Antonio – The 91³ÉÈË is proud to announce that it has received a $2.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to start the new FLIGHT program.

FLIGHT is an acronym for: Financial Literacy, Integrated Guidance and Health career Tracts. The FLIGHT program will provide transformational, multi-pronged mentorship to Hispanic students who might otherwise not complete their degree and graduate. Research shows that a network of mentors, who contribute diverse skills and backgrounds to assist students at varying stages of the college experience, is more effective than one or more stand-alone mentoring programs.

The 91³ÉÈË FLIGHT program includes three activities:

1. Establish a FLIGHT Mentoring Center to implement a coordinated mentoring program that affords students access to mentors to guide them to graduation with a developed academic and financial plan.
2. Establish a first-year seminar course taught by FLIGHT-certified faculty and embedded in learning communities with FLIGHT-certified peer mentors.
3. Establish a health professions pathway guided by a FLIGHT-certified mentor/advisor who works with the Health Professions Advisory Council, which is comprised of undergraduate faculty and mentors who support the pre-health academic programs at 91³ÉÈË.

“This project will allow 91³ÉÈË to build and sustain support to help increase the graduation rate of our Hispanic students,” says Sandy McMakin, 91³ÉÈË associate provost. “It will also increase the number of Hispanic students who enter graduate health programs and help students carry out a sustainable financial plan for their future.”

The initial $2.9 million grant from the Department of Education will be distributed over five years beginning in October of 2021.