The federal Student Support Services grant at Seward County Community

College/Area Technical School has been renewed for another five-year cycle.

The grant, according to Director Rhonda Kinser, will continue to play a

critical role for the college in supporting the persistence, graduation,

transfer and ultimate academic success of our most at-risk students.

The SSS eligible population at SCCC/ATS reflects the struggling economic,

social and educational conditions prevalent in this rural four-state border

region, Kinser said. These socio-economic circumstances result in an

extremely high number of first-generation, low-income, and academically

under prepared students. Thus, the need for such a grant as Student Support

Service; since its inception in 2005 this successful SSS project has

provided assistance to over 800 students.

Each year 160 students participate in the SSS project and receive academic,

transfer, and career advising as well as one-on-one tutoring from

professional academic specialists who hold at least a bachelor??s degree,

Kinser said.