Skip to Main Content

Spring Start expands opportunities for Purdue University agriculture students

The newly launched Purdue University’s College of Agriculture Spring Start (CASS) program will enable an additional group of first-year students to begin their studies at the university in the spring semester.  These students will be eligible for scholarships and financial aid and on-campus housing. Spring Start will also actively support these students in their academic planning as well as provide special programming for them ahead of their arrival on campus.

Purdue is Indiana’s only public four-year institution of higher education offering degrees in agriculture. “This program will help us expand the college’s student numbers as well as make critical contributions to the state’s economy by meeting the strong demand for graduates in academic majors that prepare them for careers in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources and the environment,” says Bernie Engel, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture.

“Indiana is home to many leading employers in the agricultural sectors,” Engel notes. “Industry is hungry for graduates who can contribute to our agribusiness and ag science industries here.”

University and college officials expect the majority of CASS students will be from Indiana.

“We’re very interested in giving our Indiana residents greater opportunity to earn a degree from Purdue University,” says Christine Wilson, senior associate dean and director of academic programs in the College of Agriculture. “They will be receiving a degree from the number three college of agriculture in North America.”

The first cohort of Spring Start students will receive their admission offer in February 2024, and we will welcome them to campus in January 2025.

CASS students will meet with their academic advisor in summer 2024 to discuss their off-campus plan for the fall 2024 semester. “We envision that they could take a couple of courses from a two-year or online institution and potentially work full or part-time,” Wilson says.

The CASS program will be distinctive in its level of programmatic support. A program manager will host in-person and virtual activities in the fall semester for students to meet each other and begin to build relationships, connect with faculty and staff, and experience campus life. CASS students will also be invited to participate in Boiler Cold Rush, a university wide orientation for students starting their Purdue career in the spring.

Featured Stories

Alex Dudley holds a black vulture; Alex is pictured through a hole in a rock formation; Alex holds her camera in front of a forested mountain landscape.
Meet FNR Outstanding Senior Alex Dudley

From her research on black vulture ecology in the Zollner lab and on digital forestry under Dr....

Read More
Yellow flowers against a leafy green background
April Showers Bring May Flowers to Jules Janick Horticulture Garden

The sweet smell of hundreds of blossoms draws pollinators and people alike to the Jules Janick...

Read More
Dr. Rob Swihart, Bob Burke and others at an HTIRC meeting in 2016.
FNR Remembers Alumnus, HTIRC Advisory Committee Member Bob Burke

Robert Dean “Bob” Burke, who received his bachelor’s degree from Purdue...

Read More
John Couture in Martell Greenhouse at the Wright Center.
John Couture named University Faculty Scholar for multifaceted research in plant and insect ecology

John Couture has been chosen as a 2024 University Faculty Scholar for his exceptional research...

Read More
Bob Auber presents from a screen titled "A Day in the Life." In the foreground, there are two graduate students watching.
‘Plants to people:’ Bob Auber’s path from the Center for Plant Biology to oncology

On Friday March 22, Bob Auber returned to Room 116 in Whistler Hall to stand behind a podium in...

Read More
Measuring soil in a field
New Indiana Organic Network to engage farmers in statewide soil health census

A Purdue University interdisciplinary team is establishing a network of organic farmers to...

Read More
To Top