Contact: Jim Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A long-term training grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration is opening doors for students interested in pursuing master's degrees in rehabilitation counseling at Mississippi State.
With the initial RSA funding award of almost $137,000, 10 students in the program will have their tuition paid and receive a $300 per month stipend. In return, the students agree to work for one year with government-funded clients for each semester they receive the scholarship.
Awarded during a five-year lifecycle, the grant totals $684,000 to the university, according to Charles Palmer, an associate professor of counseling and educational psychology and the grant's principal investigator.
"The federal government established this grant program in 1954 to fund the development of rehabilitation counselors, whose primary professional role is to assist people with severe disabilities in becoming productive, tax-paying members of society," he said. "Today, there is an ever-growing need for these professionals, and Mississippi State is committed to providing them the best education and career enhancement opportunities available."
Of the 50 million people in the U.S. who possess some level of challenged ability to perform a daily life activity, approximately 16 million are severely limited in their ability to interact productively. Rehabilitation counselors assist those individuals in developing the skills necessary to contribute to their own and their family's quality of life, Palmer said.
"This award is significant," said J. Elton Moore, associate dean for research and assessment for the land-grant institution's College of Education. "It will add to our ability to recruit top graduate students and help the state rehabilitation agency meet its personnel needs."
For additional information about the university's rehabilitation counseling program, visit http://www.cep.msstate.edu/programs/grad/rehab.php, or contact Palmer at cpalmer@colled.msstate.edu.