PHOENIX — An insurance giant with strong ties to the Phoenix area has given Arizona State University a $30 million gift for a scholarship program aimed at high school and community college students.

State Farm and ASU will work together on the Pathways for the Future program, which will help people who need to update their skills and prepare them for potentially attending the university.

The initiative features an online academic program, financial coaching, tools for success and career coaching.

The goal is for those tracks to lead to an associate or undergraduate degree, or undergraduate certificate.

“It’s about the empowerment of the individual,” ASU President Michael Crow said in a press release. “What we’ll see, if we do this right, is the nature of work and the nature of learning become less differentiated.”

Scholarship program participants will have the opportunity to earn credits in STEM, business leadership, and humanities and social science areas.

They will be able to take those courses for a reduced cost.

An additional financial incentive program called the State Farm Pathways for the Future Scholarship Program will help students pay for enrollment fees, tuition, credit conversion and summer bridge programs.

That program will also offer crisis funding to students when necessary.

Another goal of the program is to prepare students for some of ASU’s specialized schools, notably the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the W.P. Carey School of Business.

“I want our people to have all the opportunities to be able to develop skills and learn in a way that continues to make them relevant and competitive,” State Farm CEO Michael Tipsord said in the release.

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