Grant allows New York City-area parents to visit SU students

Grant allows New York City-area parents to visit SU studentsNovember 05, 2007Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

On Friday, Nov. 9, 57 parents of first-generation, first-year Syracuse University students will arrive on campus from New York City for Family Weekend. Their round-trip bus excursion, hotel accommodations and weekend activities are provided free of charge through a special Citigroup Foundation grant.

This is the eighth year the Citigroup Foundation has given SU’s Office of Supportive Services (OSS) a $20,000 grant to cover travel and hotel expenses for parents who could not otherwise afford to attend Family Weekend.

The families will meet with deans, advisors and career services staff to become familiar with the challenges and opportunities of their students. They will also see first hand the rooms, friends and faculty that form the college environment for their students. A family reception will follow in the Panasci Lounge in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center.

“One of the many positive outcomes documented in our evaluations in previous years is that the parents become informed supporters of their child’s academic progress,” says Robert Wilson, associate director of OSS. According to Wilson, students from families involved in the event have graduated at rates 10 percentage points higher than those who did not participate.

The Citigroup grant pays for a bus to pick up parents or relatives at SU’s Lubin House in New York City and bring them to Syracuse. The offer was made to first-year students attending college through the Higher Education Opportunity Program or the federally funded Student Support Services program. Both financial aid programs serve students who come from financially disadvantaged families. The two programs serve a total of about 400 students at SU. Most of those students are first-generation college students.

SU’s Parents Office, Office of Multicultural Affairs and OSS coordinate activities for the families served by the Citigroup grant during the weekend.