Historically Black LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee, has announced a new initiative designed to provide up to $1,500 in aid to undergraduate seniors who are on track to graduate, but who are unable to complete their degrees due to modest financial barriers. The new “Last Mile” grants will be used to provide financial support to students who are close to graduation so they can complete their degree requirements.
Preliminary data from this year suggests that as many as 201 students at LeMoyne-Owen were in good academic standing but were at-risk of being dropped from courses, kept from graduating, or being purged altogether because they owed less than $1,500 to the institution. Students like these will be the primary beneficiaries of the new “Last Mile” grants.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to use special funds to help students who would otherwise be forced to delay or stop their studies just a few credits shy of graduation, said Dr. Andrea Lewis Miller, president of LeMoyne-Owen College and the first woman to lead the small, private institution. “And it’s great to be one of the first — if not the first — HBCU to implement this strategy.”
This semester, LeMoyne-Owen awarded over $12,000 in Last Mile grants to seniors with unmet financial need. The program is made possible by donations from the Delta Boule Foundation and private donors.
