$10.5 million education grant will help UC Santa Cruz prepare students for college

The Educational Partnership Center at UC Santa Cruz has been awarded $10.5 million over seven years to help middle and high school students in south Monterey County prepare for college.

The EPC’s “Paving a Path for a College-Going Generation” project plans to serve 1,930 at-risk, underrepresented students in the predominantly agricultural towns of Gonzales, Greenfield, Soledad, and King City. The U.S. Department of Education received 122 partnership applications and awarded 24 partnership grants nationwide.

The GEAR UP funding continues the Educational Partnership Center’s focus on improving high school graduation and college-enrollment and attainment rates for low-income, first-generation college students across the Monterey Bay and Silicon Valley/San Jose regions, said EPC Executive Director Maria Rocha-Ruiz.