ST. LOUIS (AP) – A St. Louis technical college that’s participating in a program focused on addressing economic disparities in poor areas is flush with cash but struggling to find students to spend it on.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (bit.ly/1IXA6XJ) reports Ranken Technical College has received about $6 million in donations as part of the Ferguson Forward initiative set up last year by St. Louis-area businesses.

The money is supposed to be doled out over five years to pay for transportation, food, books, uniforms and tuition.

But Ranken has recruited just over 100 Ferguson Forward students since fall 2014, and it has room for several hundred more.

Technical colleges have found it difficult to get past the stigma that they are second-rate schools for students not good enough to get into a four-year college.