INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — Indiana University is bringing a program that will provide resources and support for first-generation and low-income college students to Indianapolis starting next year, the university first told Mirror Indy.  

The main feature of IU Indianapolis’ Groups Scholars program will be welcoming incoming freshmen to campus for six weeks in the summer before school starts. Through the program, students will take introductory college classes, learn about careers and connect with classmates and resources such as tutoring, counseling and career advising.

Groups Scholars was established in Bloomington in 1968 and already exists at IU’s regional campuses. 

Research shows that students whose parents did not attend college are less likely to graduate, according to Pew Research Center.

Through Groups Scholars, IU Indianapolis hopes that students will not only be supported academically, but develop a sense of community with other students in the program and feel empowered to get their degrees. The program will welcome its first class in June 2025.

Eric Williams, IU Indianapolis’ director of educational equity programs, was a Groups Scholar in Bloomington and will oversee the Indianapolis program. Years after he graduated, he remains friends with people he met through Groups Scholars and credits the community with sparking his interest in a career in higher education.

“Being part of the program helped me feel like I belonged,” Williams said. “Before the academic year started in August, I already had a circle of friends, a circle of support, already knew all the resources were on campus. That made a big difference.” 

Groups Scholars in Indianapolis

Indianapolis’ Groups Scholars program will be different in some ways from Bloomington and the regional campuses, Williams said. Many of the support services students would get through Groups Scholars at other schools already exist in Indianapolis. 

Groups Scholars also overlaps with the state’s 21st Century Scholars program, which offers free tuition at public Indiana universities to low-income students. In Bloomington, 65% of Groups Scholars are also 21st Century Scholars, according to the website.

Williams wants to develop a mentoring program so students can learn about professional pathways and ask questions about specific careers. It’s especially important for students to see people who look like them or are from similar backgrounds find success, he said.

“That human element, in terms of answering questions that’s not in the book, that goes a long way,” he said.

Many of the students who’d be eligible for Groups Scholars are low-income, and may need to work in the summer. To attempt to ease that financial burden, summer tuition, classes, room and board and books will be free for Groups Scholars. Students will also receive a $2,000 stipend to help supplement the potential loss of income during the summer program. 

To be admitted into Groups Scholars, IU requires a high school GPA of at least 2.5. But Williams said the program looks beyond grades when considering applicants. 

“On paper, you might say, ‘Oh, this student doesn’t stand out,” Williams said. “But if you look beneath that, you might see a lot of reasons why. They have everything that they need to succeed, they may not just necessarily have the resources to help them along the way.”

A path to the finish line

Even though neither of her parents went to college, Faith Smith knew from a young age she wanted to get her degree. After she graduated from a high school in Gary, Smith attended Valparaiso University in northern Indiana. But two years in, she got burnt out and left to work at a factory in Gary.

Smith knew she wanted to go back to school, so she applied to IU Northwest, which is in Gary. When she was accepted, she also received a letter saying she’d been accepted into the school’s Groups Scholars program. When she showed up for her first day, Smith was most worried that she wouldn’t finish her degree. 

But by the time the school year began, Smith felt like she belonged. She’d already made friends, established a study routine, met her professors and started counseling.

“Instead of us being nervous and secluded from everyone else, we leaned into the opportunity together,” Smith, who is now 24, said. “It’s that community of people that held us together. Sharing that experience held us together.”

Through her next two years at IU Northwest, Smith started to believe that this time she was going to finish college — and she was right. She graduated with her degree in English in May and delivered IU Northwest’s commencement address. Smith credits her college degree in large part to the support of the Groups Scholars program.

“It’s through Groups that I was able to be like, ‘I can be the first in my family to graduate college,’” she said. “I can be the first in my family to get the career that I want, do what I love and still be very successful.

I had never seen any of this happen, but it happened for me.”

Interested in learning more?

IU Indianapolis’ first class of Groups Scholars will start their summer program next June. The inaugural class will include between 80 to 100 students.

The university is planning to launch the application for current high school seniors in the fall, to be submitted by December. 

To learn more, email groupsin@iu.edu.

Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire at claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org or on social media @clairerafford.