A $3 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education will go to help first-generation students at UNC make it all the way to graduation.

Abigail Panter is a psychology professor and the senior associate dean for undergraduate education at UNC. Over the next four years she will develop a program to help improve undergraduate retention as part of a national push to increase the number of college graduates.

Called The Finish Line Project, the program will be aimed at the nearly 20 percent of UNC undergraduates who are the first in their families to attend college. Many come from rural areas or traditionally underserved populations. These students are about twice as likely to drop out of college after the first year.

The program will include intensive academic counseling and targeted transition courses to help new students adjust to the rigors of college. It will also examine curriculum design for STEM classes at the community college and university levels.

The grant is one of 24 awarded by the Department of Education to fund the First in the World initiative to improve access to higher education and raise college graduation rates across the country.

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