(BLACK PR WIRE/FAMU-TALLAHASSEE) – Many students have the desire to further their education with graduate school, but just cannot afford it. Florida A&M University provides students with that opportunity with the Graduate Feeder Scholar Program (GFSP).

According to GFSP, the website was designed with FAMU as the lead university in this consortium. As the lead institution, FAMU acts as the hub of the consortium with a committed role of providing a pool of qualified underrepresented minorities motivated to pursue their master's or doctoral degrees.

“I was interested in the feeder program because the program provided financial assistance to scholars who planned on attending graduate school at the prominent institutions with great graduate programs,” said Courtney Gould, a FAMU student.

The GFSP provides an opportunity for students to advance their studies in graduate programs not available at FAMU. It’s an arrangement by FAMU with more than 22 participating universities in the United States. The program was created to help increase the number of African Americans participating in advance graduate programs.

“The tuition coverage is based on the university,” said Agnes Coppin, program director for the school of graduate studies and research. “For example, UF fellowship covers $10,000 for tuition, two years for graduate and four years for doctorate.”

Annually 75 to 100 graduates are enrolled into the feeder program. Any student enrolled in the institution with a cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher and who completes four Graduate Feeder Development Workshops is eligible for the program. If a student does not have the desired GPA, they are still eligible if they obtain a GRE score of over 1000. Coppin suggested students to go onto the interested universities’ websites and find out what each of their feeder programs provide.

“I found out about the feeder program from one of my professors,” said Marquell Johnson, a FAMU student. “I can’t afford to go to graduate school, so this sounds like a program that fit for me.”

Students can make get more information on http://www.famu.edu/index.cfm?graduatestudies&GraduateFeederProgram.