Virginia colleges receive $5 million to support engineering

Virginia Tech and Northern Virginia and Virginia Western community colleges will receive $5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help low-income students pursue engineering degrees.

The grant will support scholarships for low-income students at community colleges who want to earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering.  Over five years, the grant will support 336 scholarships over five years.

The program that will administer these funds — the Virginia Tech Network for Engineering Transfer Students (VT-NETS) — is a collaborative effort between Virginia Tech and Virginia Western and Northern Virginia Community colleges.

VT-NETS creates this partnership and serves as a research-based model for future collaboration between community colleges and four-year institutions.

“Promoting access and completion in STEM fields, particularly for low-income and first generation students, will prove increasingly important in our ever-changing economy,” U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine said in a joint statement. “We’re pleased that these funds will give low-income Virginia students a shot at an engineering degree, prepare them to join a competitive workforce, and help guarantee a pipeline of trained workers that will build our nation’s future infrastructure.”