You. Just Bolder.

The Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity

SIFP Trip 2016
Photo from SIFP trip to Grand Canyon

The Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity provides all students–especially those from first-generation, lower-income, and historically excluded backgrounds–with mentorship, academic enrichment, and community to thrive in college and beyond.

About Us
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To, Through, &
Beyond College

We invest in our students so they can navigate educational spaces, enrich their communities, pursue social good, and experience abundant joy.

The Programs
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Photo of Kaelani Burja

At EBCAO, I know the staff is invested in helping me succeed as a student and after graduation, but I know that they are equally invested in my well-being. The staff is always genuinely excited to know how I am doing, or how my day has been - and they always brighten my day. The staff has always made sure that my needs have been met, allowing me to focus on navigating student life - and young adulthood. I know that I will always have the love and support of the staff, my friends from FSI and SIFP, and the whole FLI community.

Kaelani Burja '23

To, Through, and Beyond College

Academic access

Learn how the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access & Opportunity offers opportunities for students to prepare for the journey to college.

To

Student success

Learn how EBCAO provides community, support, and practical guidance to support students as they navigate the path through higher education.

Through

Postgraduate pathways

Learn how EBCAO supports students as they create a vision for their life, design their futures, and pursue their postgraduate paths.

Beyond

News

The Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP) program helps prepare N.J. public and community college students for careers in higher education. Here, TCNJ student Donovan Crumpton (in hat) and Afia Ofori-Mensa from Princeton’s Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity, say their goodbyes at a closing event. Photo by Matthew Raspanti, Office of Communications
A summer of support and success for high school, public college, first-generation, lower-income and transfer students

This year marked the center's largest summer yet, with distinct programs serving high school students from the local area and across the country, incoming Princeton first-years, and students from community colleges and public universities in New Jersey. The programs included: Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP), Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), Princeton Summer Journalism Program (PSJP), Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP), and Transfer Scholars Initiative (TSI). 

 

The Emma Bloomberg Center's mission is to support all students - including those from first-generation college, lower-income, transfer, veteran and military backgrounds - in their academic journeys to, through and beyond college.
Student studying outside Mathey College, Princeton University
The Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity at Princeton University

With the goal of enhancing and expanding Princeton University’s fundamental commitment to the college success of talented students from first-generation, low-income and underrepresented backgrounds, the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity will bring together the University’s nation-leading initiatives in college access and opportunity, serve as a hub for research and innovation in the field of college access and success, and inform and strengthen similar efforts at colleges and universities across the country.
On April 4, a joyful celebration brought together more than 200 members of the University community for the formal dedication of the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity (EBC).
Princeton celebrates the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity and programs supporting first-gen, lower-income, veteran and transfer students

Princeton University dedicated the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity on April 4, celebrating the center’s work supporting the success of first-generation, lower-income, veteran and transfer students.

The Center brings together a nation-leading constellation of initiatives in college access and opportunity, including the Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), the Scholars Institute Fellows Program (SIFP), the University’s Programs for Transfer, Non-Traditional and Veterans Students, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP), and the Princeton Summer Journalism Program (PSJP). 
As part of their cultural study, Princeton University Preparatory Program scholars learn about traditional Puerto Rican plena and bomba with dance and musical artists from Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican Institute of Music. Tori Repp/Fotobuddy
Summer programs prepare first-gen and low-income students for college success

Over 360 first-generation college and lower-income (FLi) students from across the state, the country and the world benefited from four programs hosted this summer by Princeton’s Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity.

The distinct programs — Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP), Princeton Summer Journalism Program (PSJP), and Aspiring Scholars and Professionals (ASAP) — are linked by the Bloomberg Center’s mission to support FLi students to, through and beyond college. Participants include high school students, students from two- and four-year colleges and universities in New Jersey, and incoming Princeton first-years and transfer students.
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To College
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Through college
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Beyond college

Events

January 2026

No events currently scheduled.

Please check back later