On June 18, the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University’s Center for Disability Access and Resources (CeDAR) welcomed 32 students to the 2017 Summer College Study Skills Institute (CSSI). This program is an alternative admissions program for students with disabilities designed to acclimate the students to the FAMU campus while focusing on providing them with study skills that will lead to their collegiate academic success.

The CSSI is part of a two-year retention program designed to assist students with matriculating to their academic majors and graduating from FAMU.

Earlier this year, CeDAR was awarded a five-year grant from the Johnson Scholarship Foundation, which will be supported by the FAMU Foundation, to enhance the CSSI program and to create an endowment for CeDAR. This generous grant will allow CeDAR to provide specific instructional support focusing on students’ disabilities and study skills that complement and assist each participant’s particular disability.

The premise behind this grant’s approach is to focus on study styles that students may not have developed while in the K-12 educational system. In addition, each participant receives a $3,000 scholarship for the summer with the intent to minimize any college debt that students may incur during the semester.

With the funding that we receive from JSF and the FAMU Foundation, the program can really work on closing the learning gap in regards to their study skills and habits at the beginning of their collegiate career — which is a crucial time in their academic transitioning. In addition, the summer scholarship diminishes the stress that parents and students have about educational debt.

The CSSI program allows students to enroll in six to seven college credit hours and includes informational, social and academic based activities.

The 2017 CSSI Summer Program will conclude on Aug. 4 and will include a “Victory Brunch” recapping and celebrating the students’ completion of the summer program.