UTRGV migrant program receives additional funding
The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at UTRGV Brownsville has received $2.3 million in funding to continue serving migrant students for an additional five years.
Every five years, CAMP programs across the country must reapply in order to get refunded. CAMP Brownsville submitted its application to the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Migrant Education, and on May 23 was notified it had been approved, according to Noel Rodriguez, director of CAMP Brownsville.
CAMP is a program that serves and recruits first year migrant seasonal farm workers, providing them academic and financial assistance.
The program provides a variety of support to these first-year students, including tutoring, mentoring, money for textbooks, stipends and even a dorm scholarship for students to live on campus.
Working with local high schools and counselors to try to recruit the full 45-student cohort, the program has 35 students signed up, so far, for the upcoming fall semester.
The goal of CAMP is to provide access to training and assistance in making the transition from high school to college, while completing the first year of classes, according to Rodriguez. Most of the students are first-generation college participants who might not know how or where to start with their higher education. CAMP helps with that process.
“It’s nice to have a program and people that are willing to offer advice and guidance as to what pitfalls to avoid and whatnot,” said David Ramirez III, CAMP learning instructional specialist and a former CAMP student.
Once the students have completed their first year, CAMP assists them in enrolling for their second year of college to help retain the students in higher education.
“I’m really happy that we were funded for another five years,” Rodriguez said. “Our lab is our students’ home away from home.
“We have the same mission as UTRGV where we want to recruit students, increase enrollment and help students have a successful first year and then come back the next year.”
Aside from providing the students with the financial side of academics, the program provides stability, Ramirez said. Coming from a migrant background, it’s something that they’re not used to, having moved from state to state every season.
“Settling down is not something that you think is possible living that migrant life,” he said. “So that’s why committing to something such as higher education seems very difficult because it requires that four-year commitment to be stable.”
The grant will contribute to the program’s goal of assisting students with college and career planning as well as providing essential resources, such as social and emotional support through mentoring.
The Rider asked about Ramirez’s experience as a migrant.
“Most of the experience, I would have to describe it as unstable and inconsistent, in several areas of life, not just in academic schoolwork,” he said. “… It also affects your social life and life skills. It’s hard to develop them when you don’t have the time to develop them.”
Ramirez said migrant workers have a unique set of needs that this program and its staff are familiar with. Because much of the department has a migrant background, they understand the difficulties that a student may face.
