Last fall – in the middle of the semester – 13 Kansas University freshmen were left in the lurch.

That’s when KU officials learned the U.S. Department of Education would not renew a College Assistance Migrant Program grant.

Eventually, KU used $39,000 in discretionary funds to pay for the students’ classes and fees.

In the denied CAMP application, KU had requested almost $2 million. The school aimed to reach 25 students a year, giving them each a stipend for room and board and tuition for 18 credit hours.

“We really believe in the program. We thought it was a very successful program,” said Stacy Mendez, who was KU’s student support services coordinator for CAMP. “Definitely on a day-to-day basis it made a difference in the lives of students.”

According to documents the Education Department recently released to the Journal-World, KU’s proposal was ranked 10th out of 38 applications. The department funded only eight.

The three-member panel of reviewers – whose names were not released – noted KU’s grant application showed a strong need for the program and involved high-quality personnel.

Among the concerns were timelines and milestones that weren’t well-defined and resources that did not appear to be “substantially different than those available to the entire student population.”

Andrew Dalton, who was project coordinator of the KU program and now works with K-State, said the Education Department’s denial was based more on competition than the panel’s comments.

“It’s just a numbers game. That is the way it is,” Dalton said.

Mendez noted KU was asking for funding from a pool of money that gets smaller as the number of schools interested in it grows.

“It is a very competitive business. There are really good programs that are very successful, and you compete against everyone across the country,” Mendez said.

With no funding, KU stopped recruiting high school students for CAMP, Mendez said.

Of the 13 students in the program last year, all but one is returning to KU this fall. And although Mendez works for another department within the university, she has continued to help KU CAMP students.

The money was missed by high schools and community colleges across the state.

Itzel Rodriguez, who helps the sons and daughters of migrant workers complete their high school education in Garden City, said she came across three or four students who could have used the CAMP money.

“They don’t have any other choice but to continue working and attend school on a part-time basis,” Rodriguez said.

Dalton said the KU program had high school sophomores and juniors lined up to use the grant money.

“I am sure there was an impact,” Dalton said. “If it gets funded, we’ll go back and see what students were left behind that haven’t gone on yet to secondary programs.”