File photo
File photo
Approximately 60,000 students from four West Texas colleges are set to benefit from a two-year, $1.76 million grant from the Prentice Farrar & Alline Ford Brown Foundation and Bank of America.
The grant is intended to assist in meeting the basic needs of students at Amarillo College, El Paso Community College, Odessa College and South Plains Community College, according to the City of Odessa. The grant will be managed by Believe in Students (BIS), the only nonprofit organization in the country focused on meeting student living expenses.
“In terms of college students’ financial challenges, many of us think about big dollars, like tuition,” Traci Kirtley, executive director of BIS, said. “But often it’s a small dollar shortfall — an unexpected car repair, the inability to pay for adequate groceries, or, during the pandemic, internet access — that affects a student’s ability to continue their higher education journey.”
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