When the Fox Foundation learned about the University of Michigan’s Summer Bridge Scholars Program and newly-announced Intend to Attend digital college planning program for high school students, both housed in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA), they were drawn to how each program reflected LSA community values that align with those of the Foundation: especially inclusivity and an emphasis on social, individual, and cultural wellness on par with academic performance.
The programs, established nearly 50 years apart—one in 1975 and the other in 2023—illustrate LSA’s continuous, long-term commitment to thoughtful support of student success. They draw on innovative methods that increase access to college and level the playing field for students from communities that are historically underrepresented on campus. To advance these efforts, this spring the Fox Foundation gave a transformational gift of $750,000 to LSA to establish the Fox Foundation Summer Bridge Scholarship Fund and the Fox Foundation Intend to Attend Strategic Fund. The agreement provides expendable funding, enabling the college to distribute the funds immediately for maximum impact.
The Summer Bridge Scholars Program, now in its 48th year, bridges the gaps in opportunity created by inequitable systems in education. It supports approximately 350 first-year students as they embark upon their U-M career in the summer term prior to their first fall semester. More than 60% are first-generation college students. During the seven-week program, they’re immersed in campus life, participating as a cohort in workshops and special events with academic advisors and peer mentors, and earning six credits toward their degree in seminar-style classes.
“We’ve seen that there is a drop off in attention on students between the senior year of high school and the first year of college. The students who need the most support to thrive in a collegiate environment aren’t getting that support and, as a result, can be in danger of leaving college,” said Kristen Paglia, Executive Director of the Fox Foundation, whose vision is of “a world in which everyone has access to the resources and opportunities they need to realize their full human potential.”
Paglia continued, “There’s a very powerful sense of agency when you are valued and welcomed into a community. LSA reinforces an inclusive culture through the Summer Bridge Scholars Program by intentionally creating safe, generative spaces that celebrate and support participants’ broad range of gifts and lived experiences. They are sending a message that the university community will be enriched by co-creating a supportive environment in which every student has the opportunity and resources to thrive.”
The academic and social payoff of Summer Bridge is high for the students who are selected. But the cost of the full-time, residential session isn’t low. Because Summer Bridge is the students’ term of admission for the university, summer enrollment is required. A majority of the students apply for financial aid in the form of loans or grants to cover summer term tuition, fees, supplies, and residence hall housing and meals. The Fox Foundation hopes to further diminish obstacles to participation in the Summer Bridge program through their scholarship fund designed to reduce or eliminate the need for students to borrow money to attend.
“LSA’s Summer Bridge Scholars Program is an exceptional way to make going to Michigan more accessible and increase families’ social and economic mobility, particularly for low income students,” noted Paglia. “We hope this gift from the Fox Foundation will inspire other donors’ support and, eventually, help replace enough of the costs to make the program fee-free.”
Kierra Trotter, director of LSA’s Comprehensive Studies Program (CSP), administers Summer Bridge. She said that the Fox Foundation fund will immediately impact students in the program, eliminating qualifying student loans for approximately 150 Bridge Scholars.
“The Fox Foundation is fundamentally changing the lives of Bridge Scholars who will now be able to begin their journey at the University of Michigan not only six credits ahead but also without additional student debt,” said Trotter. “The Fox Foundation scholarships will additionally serve as a compelling recruitment tool, ensuring that no potential Bridge Scholar has to forgo attending the University of Michigan because of the cost of this program.”
With its new Intend to Attend (I2A) initiative, LSA broadens its commitment to preparing students from Michigan for career and college success even earlier. I2A aims to harness the positive connection opportunities that our increasingly digital society offers to educate eighth to twelfth grade students in the State of Michigan about the full range of their post-high school choices–from technical and trade school, to community college, to four-year university. While the online college prep tool is available to all, I2A is specifically designed to support students from underserved high schools in urban and rural communities, many of whom are first-generation, low-income, or primarily home-schooled. The platform provides a focused and personalized experience for students. It combines post-secondary resources and information with a digital coaching system via a gameful learning environment that was developed in partnership with U-M behavioral scientists. I2A provides student users with feedback tailored to their background, interests, and goals.
“One of the most important lessons we learned from behavioral science is that the messenger matters. I2A can adjust what we say to each student, when we say it, how we say it, and even who says it,” explains Tim McKay, LSA Associate Dean of Undergraduate. LSA has recruited a cohort of twelve U-M students from rural Michigan communities, Grand Rapids, and Detroit, to serve as I2A Ambassadors and create meaningful content for users.
Discretionary funds from the Fox Foundation Intend to Attend Strategic Fund will, in part, compensate the I2A Ambassadors for their important work in creating useful and motivational near-peer video messaging that includes their own personal stories about their college journeys—including navigating the financial aid process and paying for college—as well as advice and anecdotes sourced from other current U-M students.
“I2A student ambassadors are the most important members of our team. Their advocacy for college is based on their own experience. When they share their stories, younger students recognize themselves. Our ambassadors are living proof that getting to college is possible, and the great experiences they’re having show why it’s all worthwhile” said Tim McKay.
“The I2A Ambassadors’ work in sharing their real and lived experiences to help younger people in communities like their own is vitally important. Finding these different voices and lifting them up makes the university more excellent and the State’s communities more prosperous,” said Paglia. “We believe that it should be recognized in a way that has concrete value. The Fox Foundation is proud to make it possible for LSA to pay them for their work.”
McKay added, “LSA is truly excited to have found a partner in the Fox Foundation that understands how important community and belonging is to supporting the work we are doing to foster the well-being and success of all our students at the University of Michigan.”
Find out how you can support the Summer Bridge Scholars Program, through the Comprehensive Studies Program.
Learn more about LSA’s Division of Undergraduate Education (UGED) and Intend to Attend.
