500 new students move in to Lincoln University this week

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

New students were welcomed to Lincoln University's campus with the sound of the drum line and the promise of new, improved access to technology.

Lincoln University is welcoming 500 new students this year, compared to 466 last year. The university is hosting new student orientation events all week.

There are few traffic impacts, if any, as students move in. There are signs posted everywhere telling students and their families where to park and check in. Misty Nunn with Lincoln University said they've been planning all month for this move-in.

"Our students are going step by step," Nunn said. "They have a checklist of things to get done. We're hoping they got a lot of those things done before they got here. So the last things they can do is get their key and check into their residence halls."

Full-time students will receive new laptops this year thanks to a national grant. Students who were moving in Wednesday were getting their dorm keys, their class schedules and a new laptop.

The $2.9 million grant is called the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Grant. The goal is to create better Internet and broadband connectivity for minorities, and students have the opportunity to keep the new laptops if they stay enrolled at Lincoln.

Lincoln is a historically Black college founded by former enslaved people who fought in the Civil War.

"It's kind of like a lease program, so they will have purchased that laptop from the university," Nunn said. "So once you walk into Lincoln, you're going to get your laptop. And if you go all four years, basically you own a laptop."

In addition to the new laptops, the university is using the grant to improve classroom technology and create new Internet hotspots around campus for students.