An OU grant program aimed at preparing underrepresented students for graduate opportunities announced that it is ending because of a lack of funding, Tuesday.
Robert E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Programs are grants funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s TRIO Programs that aimed to prepare underrepresented students for graduate education through research opportunities, faculty mentorships and other scholarly activity, Sophia Bolin-Dills, associate director of the OU McNair Program, said.
The OU McNair Scholars Program was funded from September 1999 to January 2023 to help OU students pursue graduate degrees.
For federal grants, such as the one that funded this program, external reviewers are used for the proposal.
This year, OU missed the funding cutoff by 3/4 of a point. According to Bolin-Dills, there were two factors that played into this decision: proposals from minority-serving institutions were given a three-point advantage and OU’s proposal lost points for using national data.
While OU plans to reapply for the grant in the next competition, McNair scholars feel this current decision will negatively impact students.
“I have friends who are just getting ready to look into (research opportunities) and now that the program has come to an end, they will not have those opportunities that I had … which were extremely important for me to feel competitive in (my) field,” Jose Aguilar Escamilla, a computer science graduate student, said.
Escamilla said the program helped him find his passion in research after he realized he wasn’t interested in his original desire to work in software development.
“I was having a really tough time deciding what to do next,” Escamilla said. “I wasn’t feeling like software development was my passion which was what made me move to the United States when I was 14 (or) 15 years old.”
Escamilla spoke with Bollin-Dills who recommended the program to him, which prompted him to start taking a more serious interest in research. He never had academic or professional experience in research, but through the program, he was given guidance and mentorship on how to pursue a graduate education.
“I was very heartbroken when I heard (about McNair ending) because I was losing a very important network. Whenever I decided to switch to research, I felt like I was starting from zero, and I was very unsure about what I wanted and needed to do at that point,” Escamilla said. “McNair gave me a support system.”
Cecil Ehirindu, a senior psychology student, said McNair gave him internship, travel and research opportunities.
“(McNair) really opened the door for me to apply and go to graduate school,” Ehirindu said.
Ehirindu said for people from low socioeconomic statuses and marginalized backgrounds, programs like McNair are really important to introduce the possibility of graduate school to these students.
“It’s hard to continue on in education when you have financial, structural and educational barriers playing against you,” Ehirindu said.
Despite the ending of McNair, its members remain hopeful.
Ehirindu said even without the program, there is still a community of McNair alumni that will continue to provide resources, like graduate test preparation and financial aid advice, for those interested in the program.
“I still feel empowered by my peers,” Ehirindu said. “Finding a community that is supportive … is important and will continue to empower us until the (McNair) program does come back.”
This story was edited by Alexia Aston, Karoline Leonard and Jazz Wolfe. Teegan Smith and Nikkie Aisha copy edited this story.
This story was edited on Feb. 5 at 1:55 p.m. to correct the spelling of Escamilla's name.
