The mission of the GEAR UP program is to significantly increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in post-secondary education. This is done by promoting academic excellence through a variety of locally designed and innovative early intervention services. It prepares our future workforce for jobs in Michigan's rapidly diversifying economy that are essential to the state's economic viability and competitiveness in a knowledge-based, global economy. It reduces the number of individuals requiring remediation and the cost of re-training high school graduates for new jobs. GEAR UP increases students' proficiency in math, science, reading, and technology to better prepare students for college and the workplace.
GEAR UP was established by the 1998 amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965 to serve the needs of the nation's low-income and most educationally disadvantaged students. The program is administered and funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Martin Luther King - César Chávez - Rosa Parks (KCP) Initiative. The state-funded program is administered through Michigan's 15 public universities by the Michigan Department of Energy Labor & Economic Growth, Bureau of Workforce Transformation, and Division of Lifelong Learning. GEAR UP supports students along the academic pipeline beginning in 7th grade with college preparation.
