Education Is Freedom and Texas A&M University-Commerce will announce today a $3.2 million partnership that focuses on preparing and motivating DISD students to go to college and succeed once there.

Students at three high schools and five middle schools that participate in Education Is Freedom, a national nonprofit organization focusing on college readiness, will benefit from the partnership. Organizers say that the program will work with EIF students from middle school through graduation.

The participating high schools are Madison, North Dallas and W.H. Adamson. The middle schools are Dade, Edison, Hector P. Garcia, Rusk and Alex W. Spence.

EIF students will get priority consideration to the university's Honors College, and could possibly receive four-year scholarships at the university, according to a news release. The goal is to recruit 50 EIF students every year to the program for the next five years, the release said.

The students also will be able to earn up to $1,500 by attending a variety of A&M-Commerce campus activities, such as athletic events and college prep and financial aid sessions. The students will be offered hands-on, creative ways to prepare academically for college and introduce them to college life, such as having an overnight "Camp College" experience.

The initiative will officially be launched this afternoon at North Dallas High.