The early college students of Commonwealth University- Bloomsburg received a generous donation of $40,000 from the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit around the end of February this year.

The money came from  PA Smart, who the CSIU applied to in hopes of getting the grant. PA smart has invested more than $60 million into education and the workforce since 2018.

PA Smart has awarded over 475 grants to school districts during this time.

When asked about how it will affect students who received this grant, Jerome Manley, Executive Director of Early College, said “The grant funds were applied to the tuition cost for local high school students from CSIU participating school districts taking STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) qualifying courses at the Bloomsburg location in the Early College program.”

“The grant was proposed and developed by the CSIU as part of a larger PA Smart grant to fund their own program initiatives that benefit the local school districts and educational partners. This was an incredibly generous opportunity the CSIU provided for our qualifying Early College students” Manley said.

Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental, Geographical and Geological Sciences, Dr. Shepard, provided further context as to how this grant will impact the EGGS department.

“My understanding is that this grant will provide support for students in all STEM fields on all campuses at Commonwealth. The first class has yet to be chosen and, should students who are enrolling in the EGGS program be selected for admission this fall, it will provide us with a cohort of students who might not have been able to attend and major in our field.”