Point Park Awarded $3 Million Federal Grant to Expand Support for Low-Income Students Wednesday, September 30, 2026
The Professional Career Readiness Center aids students in finding internship, co-op and job opportunities.
“While Point Park maintains a well-established and robust support system for low-income students, there is more we can do to raise retention rates. This grant from the Department of Labor will allow us to greatly expand our efforts to intervene and give critical support to the students who need it most.”
Point Park University has been awarded a $3 million federal Strengthening Institutions Program grant to launch From Risk to Readiness at Point Park University: The Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness Initiative. The university-wide initiative will strengthen academic quality, institutional capacity, fiscal sustainability and student-support systems to improve persistence, completion and career readiness for low-income students.
The U.S. Department of Education awarded $650,000 to Point Park for the first year of the project, which comes with a five-year budget of $3 million. Additional funding will be expected through annual award notices.
“While Point Park maintains a well-established and robust support system for low-income students, there is more we can do to raise retention rates,” said Dr. Chris W. Brussalis, President of Point Park. “This grant from the Department of Labor will allow us to greatly expand our efforts to intervene and give critical support to the students who need it most.”
The grant supports multiple initiatives across the university:
- Career-connected academic pathway maps that show students how courses, advising checkpoints, career competencies and work-based learning connect.
- A flexible Industry Professional Mentor Network and work-based learning infrastructure.
- Pioneer Pathfinders who translate risk data into proactive outreach, action plans, tutoring connections, financial literacy referrals, career navigation and completion support.
“This is an incredible opportunity to develop and deploy a retention and completion strategy,” said Shari Payne, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “Because of this grant, we will have a workforce readiness model that can scale across all of Point Park’s programs.”
Point Park’s location in Downtown Pittsburgh already provides a unique opportunity for real-world experience through internships and its Cooperative Education Program. This grant will help ensure low-income students get the support they need to take part in these opportunities while maintaining their path to a degree.
“We are incredibly excited about how this grant will improve the educational experience for so many of our students, but this also is a $3 million federal investment in Downtown Pittsburgh talent development,” President Brussalis said. “We expect many of these students to benefit from both being in the classroom and on the job through our robust network of community partners.”