The Cambridge Campus of Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) has received a $36,675 grant from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) System to create additional support services for underrepresented, academically at-risk students. The college is only one of six to receive funding out of 21 institutions submitting proposals.

The funds will be used on the Cambridge Campus to create an Academic Fitness Program for at-risk students. The program proposal was created by ARCC faculty and staff members Darla McCann, Kim Lynch, Kathleen Hoffman and Isabelle Schmidt.

“This will be a huge step toward linking underrepresented students to the many services available on our campus,” says Darla McCann, Director of Academic Support Services on the Cambridge Campus.

Through the Academic Fitness Program, the college will provide individualized advising, summer learning communities and supplemental instruction to approximately 250 at-risk students on the Cambridge Campus. The grant will also fund a retention management system to assist all students enrolled in developmental classes. Further, the grant will allow the college to offer pre-college preparation courses and English Language Learner courses to students in the Cambridge-Isanti school District Adult Basic Education program on the Cambridge Campus.

McCann says the college initiated many of the new services this fall with existing funding. The MnSCU grant will fund the Academic Fitness Program for the 2005 calendar year.