GEAR UP offers community college waivers to parents

For parents whose children are part of the GEAR UP Birmingham program, the education benefits can now span two generations.

GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is the product of a state grant that tracks and improves low-income students’ preparedness for post-high school education.

Donna Turner, GEAR UP Birmingham’s project director, said the program is built on a “cohort” model, in that they follow the same group of students from sixth and seventh grade up until they go to college. That allows the GEAR UP staff to track the outcomes of their work.

“The neat thing is we’re tracking impact,” Turner said.

In August, GEAR UP and the Alabama Community College System began collaboration on an education waiver project allowing parents of GEAR UP students, currently in eighth and ninth grade in Birmingham City Schools, to attend any state community college for an associate’s degree or certificate program. They can get their degree at any time between now and 2022.

GEAR UP high school graduates in 2020 and 2021 will be offered a similar community college waiver, Turner said, and GEAR UP wanted to provide a no-strings-attached way to reward parents who worked with the program to put an emphasis on their child’s education.

“I think we’re headed in that direction in the nation anyway,” Turner said of the waiver system.

There are eight parents who have enrolled in a community college through GEAR UP, and their majors include radiology, business administration, early childhood education and computer information systems. Turner said parents must meet their community college’s enrollment requirements and have not defaulted on student loans in the past in order to qualify.

For more information, call 231-4738 or go to gearupbham.com.