The University of Michigan, along with Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and Western Michigan University, have come together to create the Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program. Funded by a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the program will add staff and expand mentoring in an effort to graduate more minority students, especially in high-tech fields. Currently, only about half of the underrepresented minority students who enroll in U-M’s College of Engineering graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Though this is better than the national average, barriers still exist for minorities. U-M President Mary Sue Coleman declared that “Our country and our state are in desperate need of these skills,” and this program will assist the universities in graduating double the number of minority students within 10 years