University of Tennessee at Knoxville
PA-8: Affordability and Access

The College Access and Persistence Services (CAPS) Outreach Center is UTK's product of years of securing external funding in support of outreach services to help students overcome social, academic, financial, and cultural barriers in higher education. The goal of the CAPS Outreach Center is to provide services to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to prepare them to succeed in postsecondary or professional academic programs. To accomplish this goal, the CAPS Outreach Center provides activities to strengthen the math and science skills of students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields; to assist students in succeeding in pre-college preparation, college admissions, and financial aid application processes; and ultimately, to provide the skills and motivation necessary for completing college graduation requirements. Similar activities also assist adults and military veterans who have no baccalaureate degrees. The new CAPS Outreach Center is funded in its entirety by external funds. Approximately 60,000 students have been served for more than thirty years by project staff, and new opportunities for funding are continually reviewed to identify grants that will expand the number of students we serve in the future. http://caps.utk.edu/

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The Pre-College Upward Bound (PCUB) project is designed to help low-income, potential first-generation college students to graduate from high school and to enroll in a post-secondary institution of their choice that aligns well with their educational and professional goals. Experiences shared while participating in PCUB lay a groundwork that fosters college entrance, persistence, and graduation. Activities and services include tutoring, ACT preparation, college and career information, instruction in academics, cultural enrichment, and one-on-one social counseling on individual development plans (i.e., vision, mission, values, goals, assessment of personal strengths and possible barriers to face, and steps to take to progress satisfactorily toward goals), and six-week summer programs at UT Knoxville that provide students a chance to experience what college may be like. By the time they graduate from high school, they are much better equipped to make better post-secondary decisions and to deal effectively with college life. Additionally, the Math and Science Center is designed to strengthen the math and science skills of participating students. The goal of the program is to help these students recognize and develop their potential to excel in these subjects, to encourage them to pursue post-secondary degrees in related disciplines, and, ultimately, to obtain careers in the many professional fields of math and science.

The Tennessee Pledge Scholarship is offered to admitted students with a family adjusted gross income of up to $40,000. The Achieve the Dream Grant is available for high achieving students from lower-middle-income families. The Tennessee Promise Scholarship is also available to any student who attends a Tennessee Promise High School (typically high schools with high low-income populations).

The CAPS Outreach Center hosts a parent information page which provides resources for parents with students in their program. It provides links to assist them in how to help their child prepare for college so that they can better help them with issues and concerns that may arise while preparing for college.

The College Access and Persistence Services (CAPS) Outreach Center is a product of years of securing external funding in support of outreach services to help students overcome social, academic, financial, and cultural barriers in higher education. The CAPS Outreach Center most prominent goal is to provide services to individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds to prepare them to succeed in postsecondary or professional academic programs. To accomplish this goal, the CAPS Outreach Center provides activities to strengthen the math and science skills of students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields; to assist students in succeeding in pre-college preparation, college admissions, and financial aid application processes; and ultimately, to provide the skills and motivation necessary for completing college graduation requirements. Similar activities also assist adults and military veterans who have no baccalaureate degrees. The new CAPS Outreach Center is funded in its entirety by external funds. Approximately 60,000 students have been served for more than thirty years by project staff, and new opportunities for funding are continually reviewed to identify grants that will expand the number of students we serve in the future. Individual colleges also have outreach programs to recruit under-represented students such as Haslam College of Business. They sponsor the Business Education for Talented Students (BETS) Program for under-represented or economically challenged high school juniors in Tennessee and South Eastern USA that has the purpose to expose the students to all aspects of the business world to encourage them to seek careers in business. The Accounting & Information Management (AIM) Academy, a similar program to BETS, exposes under-represented or economically challenged high school sophomores to the dynamic world of accounting and careers in accounting. HCB also participates in the Ph.D. Project which is a national initiative to recruit minorities into academic careers.

The Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) assists low-income, first-generation participants to complete secondary school requirements and enroll in post-secondary education programs.

UTK is able to offer federal and state grants to some financially needy students (http://onestop.utk.edu/your-money/covering-costs/grants/), and is also able to offer federal work study positions to some students each year (http://onestop.utk.edu/your-money/covering-costs/work-study/).

The CAPS Outreach Center continuously works to enhance services for project participants through multiple avenues of external funding. One of the sources used to provide additional food for project participants is the US Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Services Program (SFSP). Through grants offered via the Tennessee Department of Human Services, summer participants in Pre-College Upward Bound (PCUB), the Math and Science Center (MSC), and the Academic Enrichment Program (AEP) are provided daily nutritional meals that meet strict USDA guidelines. Reimbursement for these meals help to supplement funds used to provide breakfast or lunch for students who attend Saturday sessions throughout the academic year. PCUB, MSC, and AEP have participated in the SFSP for the past ten years, resulting in better nutritional education for project participants and higher-quality meals to enhance project services. PCUB, MSC, and AEP continue to partner with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Service for scientific research opportunities and service learning activities. Hands-on, experiential activities in the park have provided project participants with firsthand knowledge and practice in multiple science disciplines, including biology, chemistry, environmental science, and zoology.

The Tennessee HOPE Scholarship is a lottery system that awards scholarships to Tennessee students. This scholarship has a category for non-traditional students who are Tennessee residents, 25 years of age or older and be enrolled at an eligible post secondary institution.

The University of Tennessee Early Learning Center for Research and Practice (ELC) is a laboratory school affiliated with the Department of Child and Family Studies within the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. The ELC provides full-day high quality early education programs for families of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners. The mission of the ELC is to generate knowledge and practices that improve the field of early education. We are committed to engaging in meaningful, interdisciplinary research that makes a difference in the lives of children and families, preparing high quality early childhood teachers, and providing exemplary early education programs.

The Student Success Center has a specific outreach to nontraditional students offering them services to help them through their studies. They provide advice and resources to help navigate UT and a person to contact with questions. http://studentsuccess.utk.edu/students/transfer-military-and-non-traditional/