Rutgers has received more than $3 million in federal funding to help low-income students and those from historically underrepresented communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The university is among 35 state higher education institutions receiving $28.5 million in “Opportunity Meets Innovation Challenge (OMIC)” grants to develop system-wide reforms that will stop declining enrollments in populations hardest hit by the pandemic, including low-income students and working-age adults. “The OMIC grant will enable us to launch new initiatives to improve retention and cultivate research, innovation and talent,” said Rutgers University-Camden Chancellor Antonio D. Tillis. “Research indicates that students who engage in learning experiences outside of the classroom are more successful academically, retained at higher percentages, and more likely to graduate than their classmates. We will track the efficacy of our efforts to make certain that we are delivering the outcomes that our students so richly deserve.”