$23 Million Federal Grant Brings New College Support To 20 MPS Schools

Milwaukee students submit forms about their college and career goals Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, during the kickoff event for GEAR UP at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Thousands of Milwaukee Public School students headed to American Family Field on Wednesday to celebrate a $46 million program targeted at helping kids succeed after high school graduation.

Nearly 30,000 students will be part of the program over the next seven years.

MPS announced it was awarded a $23 million matching federal grant in October 2025 for the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP.

The program started last fall, with students in grades four through seven at 20 schools.

These students will be followed through high school graduation and into their first year of post secondary education.

John Hill, MPS Director of College and Career Readiness, said the district chose the schools based on geography and student population.

“The ultimate goal is so they are ready for four-year college, two-year college, trade, military or career,” Hill said. “We would consider all of those a success.”

Students in the GEAR UP program will receive advising and academic planning, they will visit colleges, have gifted & talented program opportunities, receive extra support in math and have options for tutoring and mentoring.

The first year ran from October 1, through the end of the month with a $3.2 million matching federal grant.

Hill says that money was used to hire eight student advisors and one coordinator. Older students were taken on college visits and younger children went to college and career centers at MPS high schools. Math teachers also received training —one of the goals of the program is to make sure ninth graders can pass algebra.

And there was Wednesday’s pep rally at the Brewers’ stadium.

Milwaukee students cheer as their schools are shouted out at the kickoff event for GEAR UP, a program that supports college and career advancement, on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

That event was two-fold.

Hill says MPS wanted to get students and staff excited about GEAR UP. But the $3.2 million also had to be spent by the end of the month.

Major League Baseball charged MPS $12,000 to rent the stadium. The total for the event was approximately $149,000, which included the facility, transportation, food, and supplies, said a MPS spokesperson.

Tiffany Fischer is a principal at Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts, one of the schools chosen for the GEAR UP program.

She said getting more Milwaukee students into college is a step in the right direction.

“You know, if you ask students what is GEAR UP? Maybe they’ll think about this event, and the memory of eating popcorn,” Fischer said. “I know at our school, what I saw last year was funding from GEAR UP to take kids to college tours. So kids that are thinking college is not attainable, I think we got some to change their hearts and minds after going to Oshkosh and Whitewater.”

MPS has to match the $3.2 million grant annually. Its partners include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Great Milwaukee, Milwaukee Area Technical College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, MENTOR Greater Milwaukee and the Young Enterprising Society.

MPS leaders who support GEAR UP efforts appear in front of a crowd of students Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said previously the district’s contribution to the matching grant will be about $900,000 of in-kind salaries devoted to the program and $1 million in building space. No new money will be spent.

GEAR UP was started in 1998 by former President Bill Clinton to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

MPS received a $14 million GEAR UP grant in 2011 that expired in 2018. More than 12,000 students participated in that program.

Hill says the district applied every year since, but the grant is highly competitive.

In September 2025, the Trump administration canceled nine GEAR UP grants that funded college mentors at more than 200 public schools in the United States. At the time, U.S. Department of Education Deputy Press Director Ellen Keast said the grants “use overt race preferences or perpetuate divisive concepts and stereotypes.”

The administration’s FY 2026 budget proposed fully eliminating GEAR UP, but Congress rejected the proposal and instead funded the program at FY 2025 levels. 

Hill says he is not worried MPS’s grant will be canceled.

“The beautiful thing about GEAR UP is it has very strong bipartisan support in both the Senate and in the House,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t want to guess the direction of the current administration. But our grant was written to serve all students with a focus on low income and students with disabilities, so everybody fits under the tent.”

Milwaukee Public School students head to American Family Field to celebrate federal grant was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.