Gear Up for College

Gear Up UCSC

The goal of GEAR UP UCSC is to prepare students for access, acceptance and persistence in postsecondary education. This discretionary grant program is designed to increase the number of underserved students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

GEAR UP provides seven-year grants to partnerships to provide services at underserved middle and high schools. GEAR UP grantees serve an entire cohort of students beginning no later than the seventh grade and follow the cohort through high school and their 1st year of college.

Services for cohort students/families include but are not limited to:

- Academic Advising

- Tutoring

- Credit Recovery Academies (Summer School in partnership with MPUSD)

- Postsecondary Enrichment Summer Programs

- College Knowledge & Financial Aid Workshops/Presentations

- SAT/ACT Workshops & Fee Waivers

- College Visits & Educational Field trips

- Family College Visits & Educational Field trips

- Parent Academies (College Knowledge & Financial Aid) & the Parent Leadership Program

Gear Up CSUMB

Gear Up CSUMB is a competitive grant program under the U.S. Department of Education that aims to increases the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education by providing States and local community-educational partnerships via six-to-seven year grants to offer support services to high-poverty, middle and high schools.

CSUMB GEAR UP provides critical early college awareness and support activities like tutoring, mentoring, academic preparation, financial education and college scholarships to improve access to higher education for low income, minority and disadvantaged first-generation students and their families in the Seaside, Salinas, and South County areas.