**Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP)**

**FY 2021 Competition Awardees**

**(In award number order)**

pg. 2

pg. 2

# **PR Award #:** P031A210005

**Institution Name:** McDowell Technical Community College

**Project Title:** ROARR: Improving Registration, Orientation, Advising, Retention, and Referral

McDowell Technical Community College (MTCC) is a public institution with the primary service area of McDowell County in Western North Carolina. Degrees awarded include Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, Associate in Engineering, and Associate in Applied Science, along with diploma and certificate programs. MTCC serves a population characterized by low educational attainment and low-income levels. In fall 2020, of the 1,118 students enrolled, 61% identified as first-generation, 62% were low-income (Pell) students and more than half of other students received some type of financial aid. Race/ethnicity reflects the area—81% White; 11% Hispanic, and 3.7% Black/African-American.

**Overall Goals:** AP Goal 1: Improve overall student success and goal completion; IM Goal 2: Strengthen and improve student support services; FS Goal 3: Improve MTCC endowment.

**Problems to be Addressed:** Academic Programs Problems: 1. Progression and completion rates are among the lowest in North Carolina; 2: MTCC does not sufficiently address workforce need for students to learn soft skills. Institutional Management Problems: 1. MTCC’s admission/registration process is frustrating for students and pathways to careers are not clearly defined; 2. Low participation in new student orientation; 3. Current advising model is not meeting the needs of faculty, staff, or students; and 4. MTCC has outgrown physical capacity for student service functions. Fiscal Stability Problems: 1: Declining enrollment and state appropriations and 2: Low endowment value.

**Implementation Strategies:** Component 1: Registration—improve/streamline registration process. Component 2: Orientation—improve new student and program orientations and make

mandatory. Component 3: Advising—expand hybrid model, implement Aviso Academic Planning system, and develop/deliver training. Component 4: Retention—expand early alert system, expand success coaching, and build capacity/participate in Achieving the Dream. Component 5: Referral—expand and implement work-based learning and incorporate capstone course into in-demand programs. Component 6: One-Stop Center—renovate space and consolidate student services.

**Outcomes:** Increase retention for first-time-in-college and low-income (Pell) students (Objectives 1-2); increase overall and low-income (Pell) graduation rates (Objectives 3-4); improve student onboarding satisfaction (Objective 5); increase faculty who are trained in early alert processes, appreciative advising, and work-based learning (Objective 6); increase student satisfaction with hybrid advising approach (Objective7); increase student support services space from 2,000 to 4,300 square feet (Objective 8); and increase MTCC’s endowment (Objective 9).

**Responds to Competitive Preference Priorities:** CPP 1 through Components 4 and 6 (pp. 50-52) and CPP 2 through Component 5 (pp. 53-54)

**Funds Requested:** $2,045,597

# **PR Award #:** P031A210010

**Institution Name:** George C. Wallace Community College (Dothan, AL)

**Project Title:** Building a Stronger Framework for Student Success

**Institutional Profile/Demographics:** George C. Wallace Community College is a public/state controlled two-year college established in 1949 and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The college, including the Wallace Campus in Dothan and the Sparks Campus in Eufaula, awards associate degrees and certificates. Approximately 53% of students are considered traditional college students (ages 18-24) and 34% attend full-time. Almost 37% of the student body is non-White with 29% identifying as African-American. WCC serves 49% of students who are low income.

**Goals:** WCC faces significant equity gaps in retention of first-time, full-time (FTFT) students, especially among those identified at high-risk of dropping out or failing; low three-year graduation rates; and low pass rates in key math courses. Support for students the college is not retaining or graduating at rates comparable to all FTFT students is hampered by insufficient advising, inadequate professional development, and limited capacity to implement an early alert system and other student supports to improve student success. WCC proposes three project goals: 1) achieve equitable retention and graduation rates and improve student success, 2) increase advising capacity and provide professional development to improve student success, and 3) improve fiscal stability by improving student services and retention. To close gaps in persistence, academic success, and completion, WCC will enhance advising processes and functions to address barriers to student success, provide training and resources to increase capacity among advising staff to support students in reaching their goals, and implement an academic support program to enhance student success in key math courses.

**Expected Outcomes:** As a result of implementing the Building a Stronger Framework for Student Success project, Wallace Community College will achieve the following outcomes by Sept. 30, 2026: 1a) increase fall-to-fall retention of FTFT low-income students to 60%, 1b) increase fall to-fall retention of FTFT African American students to 60%, 1c) increase fall-to-fall retention of nontraditional students to 60%, 1d) increase fall-to-fall retention of underprepared students to 60%, 2a) increase the 150% graduation rate of low-income students to 29%, 2b) increase the 150% graduation rate of African American students to 29%, 3)increase pass rates for MTH098 and MTH100 sections with Supplemental Instruction to 70%, 4) increase the percentage of student who meet with advisors to 95%, 5) increase the percentage of students who express satisfaction with advising services to 75%, 6) increase percentage of faculty/staff expressing confidence in use of the Early Alert System (EAS) to 75%, 7) increase percentage of faculty/staff expressing confidence in use of EAS to 90%, and 8) increase annual tuition revenue to $2,688,000.

**Funds Requested:** $2,197,884

# **PR Award #:** P031A210017

**Institution Name:** University of Wisconsin-Parkside

**Project Title:** UW-Parkside Success Coaching Project

The smallest and most diverse four-year campus in the University of Wisconsin System, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, WI, offers Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees. Located halfway between the urban centers of Chicago and Milwaukee, UW-Parkside’s tri-county service area lacks the resources of the big cities to address gaps in educational achievement and earning potential. Only 28.8% of adult residents in the region have earned a Bachelor’s degree, well below the national average of 32.6%. Knowing the regional demographics, UW-Parkside embraces its mission to provide a transformative education, offering a curriculum related to employable knowledge, skills, and abilities with continuously improving student support in order to increase graduates and create a talent pipeline. Despite its ambitious mission, Parkside has persistently low enrollment conversion rates, declining enrollment, and low retention and graduation rates, which serve to threaten institutional fiscal stability and independence. UW-Parkside’s student population, which is largely low-income, first-generation, under-represented minority, transfer, and/or adult students, needs additional student support measures creating a student support system providing wraparound services in order to enroll, persist, and graduate. 

Lacking the resources to develop a such comprehensive, wraparound student support system, UW-Parkside seeks funding to create a transitional success coaching unit to provide tailored counseling and support to students from admission through to enrollment, success coaching through their first year at Parkside, and connections to resources for non-academic barriers. Parkside will implement a success coaching program based on the aspects of existing success coaching programs demonstrated to make a significant impact on students’ enrollment rates, persistence, academic achievement, and graduation rates, with the following grant-period objectives: increase enrollment conversion rates by 13%; increase year 2 retention by 12%; increase year 3 retention by 9%; increase year 4 retention by 6%; and increase four-year graduation by 6%. In addition, Parkside would set the objective of increasing six-year graduation rates by 6% by 2031, as the impact will fall outside the grant period. In order to achieve these objectives, Parkside will hire five new positions and expand the duties of existing staff whose work aligns with the project and its objectives. The transitional success coaching program itself will be comprised of post-admission assistance to navigate the administrative steps and paperwork, including the FAFSA verification process, to increase enrollment conversion and coaching for a year. This coaching will support students through the transition to Parkside and to help them develop pro-active problem-solving skills designed to improve retention and graduation rates. Coaches will create a network of referral relationships with county benefits services offices in the tri-county area in order to help students find assistance with non-academic barriers to academic persistence and success, such as housing, food, transportation, and utilities insecurities. Internally, success coaches will work across existing student support offices, including Admissions, Financial Aid, Advising and Career Services, Tutoring, the Dean of Students, and Student Health and Counseling, which currently operate in a siloed fashion. Success Coaches and existing staff in each office would be trained to work together to provide seamless student support, creating a true wraparound student support system. 

This proposal addresses Competitive Preference Priorities 1, Tutoring, Counseling, and Student Service Program, and 2, Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210018

**Institution Name:** Tarleton State University

**Project Title:** Texan Smart: Increasing Educational Access, Opportunity, and Success

Founded in 1899, Tarleton State University offers the value of a Texas A&M University System through its own brand of personal attention, individual opportunities, history, tradition, and community. With its main campus in Stephenville, an hour southwest of Fort Worth, Tarleton offers nearly 100 undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as a doctorate in education. In fall 2020, Tarleton served 11,758 undergraduate students, many of whom identify as first-generation (49%) and/or low-income students (40.1%) and a majority (59.8%) receive some type of need-based financial aid. The connection between financial issues and student success in college is widely acknowledged and may follow students into their post-college years. Through the Title III project, the University will increase educational access, opportunity, and success for all Tarleton students.

**Overall Goals**

Goal 1: Increase educational access, opportunity, and success among all Tarleton students by improving financial wellness and well-being. 

Goal 2: Improve outcome metrics for future sustainability.

**Problems to be Addressed**

Low academic success rates for underrepresented students (AP 1); many first-time students are not ready for college-level coursework (AP 2); high percentages of students experience low levels of financial wellness and are at risk of critical academic and non-academic consequences (IM 1); the student-toadvisor ratio far exceeds recommended levels (IM 2); and a long-term trend of declining state appropriations threatens future fiscal stability (FS 1).

**Implementation Strategies**

Strategy 1: Establish the Texan Smart Financial Center; Strategy 2: Improve Efficacy of Tarleton Programs and Services; and Strategy 3: Expand Academic Advising.

**Outcomes**

Increased retention rates overall and for first generation and Pell-eligible students (Objectives 1-3); increased graduation rates overall and for first-generation and Pell-eligible students (Objectives 4-6); improved financial management and graduation outcome category scores on The Texas Public University Report Card (Objectives 7-8); decreased advisor-to-student ratio (Objective 9); and increased return on investment through higher retention rates (Objective 10).

Addresses Competitive Preference Priorities

CPP 1: Strategies 1-3 

CPP 2: Strategy 2 

**Funds Requested:** $1,976,32

# **PR Award #:** P031A210032

**Institution Name:** Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

**Project Title:** Connect for Student Success

Located in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) offers over 125 degrees, diplomas, apprenticeships; more than 80 certificate options, transfer agreements, contracted business services; and continuing education courses. While its academic programs are nationally rated and highly valued, significant equity gaps in course success and completion exist, particularly for black, indigenous, and other people of color. NWTC recognizes that closing these gaps will require continued, strategic cultural change and improvement in teaching and learning. The proposed Connect for Student Success project will move students towards degree completion by strengthening the fourth pillar of its Guided Pathways work: Ensure Students are Learning.

Academic Program goals include creating a framework for critical evaluation of student learning needs and a mechanism to pilot and validate promising evidence-based practices to support student learning and success inside and outside of the classroom. The Institutional Management goal focuses on aligning the Learning and Student Services divisions to position NWTC’s Teaching & Learning Center (TLC) as a hub to support innovation and change inside and outside of the classroom. The Fiscal Management goal is to improve student retention rates to help meet annual FTE revenue targets to support College budget.

The project impacts are as follows: 1) enhanced diagnostic ability of assessment and a process to identify equity gaps in student learning, 2) all graduates will possess the core employability skills necessary to continue learning while successfully engaging in a career, 3) increased enrollments, retention, and tuition revenue, and 4) an enhanced academic reputation to ensure institutional strength and resilience. Connect for Student Success addresses Competitive Preference Priorities (CPP) 1 (Tutoring, Counseling, and Student Service Programs) and 2 (Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills).

Tasks to accomplish these goals and achieve these impacts include:

· Task 1A: Institutionally Define High Impact Practices (HIPs) & Alignment to Student Services & Core Abilities

· Task 2A: Establish TLC Faculty Advisory Committee

· Task 1B: Host Summer Equity in Learning Institutes

· Task 2B: Develop Mechanism for Continuous Improvement & Evaluation of TLC

· Task 1C: Pilot HIPs – including Service Learning (CPP2)

· Task 2C: Launch Campus-Wide Campaign to Increase Visibility of TLC & Resources

· Task 1D: Develop Standardized Assessment Tools

· Task 2D: Develop System to Generate FT & PT Faculty Engagement with the TLC

· Task 1E: Develop a System to Collect HIPs for Tracking

· Task 3A: Select Programs to Run Through Review Process to Create Model (CPP1)

· Task 1F: Evaluate Impact of HIPs on Closing Equity Gaps

· Task 3B: Create New Model for Annual Student Learning Assessment Cycle that Informs 5-Year

· Task 1G: Guide Implementation of HIPs at Program Review Scale with FT & PT Faculty (CPP2)

· This project has been carefully designed to leverage College resources so grant funds can be maximized and the activities can be brought to scale and sustained after the project period ends. NWTC is requesting $2,172,122 in grant funds for this project.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210033

**Institution Name:** Tiffin University

**Project Title:** Increase undergraduate retention by developing an interactive and proactive campus culture that improves student well-being and engagement

Established in 1888, Tiffin University (TU) is a rural, private, non-profit, coeducational, and fully accredited institution of higher education that currently serves 2,194 undergraduate students. The City of Tiffin and Seneca County suffer from poverty levels, 13.6% and 12.1% respectively, that are higher than the nation (10.5%), with the City of Tiffin higher than the State of Ohio (13.1%). This is significant as currently, 341 (12.3%) of TU students reside in Tiffin, and 440 or (16% come from the rural areas of Seneca County. The educational attainment levels (Bachelor’s degree or higher for people over 25) for the region, at 19.5% for the City of Tiffin and 16.8% for Seneca County, are significantly lower than both the state (28.3%) and the nation (32.1%) (www.census.gov). For TU, the undergraduate retention rate is 67%, and only 41% of students graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years, as compared to the national rate of 61% for public institutions and 67% for private nonprofit institutions (NCES, 2021). Through the comprehensive analysis process, the planning team conducted an in-depth literature review focused on student success challenges and remedies. The findings informed the development of the overarching institutional goals for the Title III project as reflected below.

1. Create engagement opportunities that enhance the connection between students, faculty, and campus life.

2. Improve overall student support services, communication, and interventions. (Addresses CPP1- Improve Overall Student Support Services, Communication and Interventions)

3. Enhance career services, internships, and experiential learning to increase job readiness and tie studies to a career in a substantiative manner. (Addresses CPP3- Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills)

4. Conduct professional development for staff and faculty to create a sequence of points of service/connection for improved wraparound and continuous student support.

5. Develop a master plan to look at space utilization to improve student engagement and support activities.

6. To address these issues, TU’s Title III project implements strategies that promote positive faculty-to-student and student-to-student interactions that foster students’ sense of belonging, motivation, and academic success. The plan also calls for faculty and student training that aims to improve first- and second-year students’ self-confidence, involvement in the campus community, relationships with fellow students and faculty, and career expectations. The expected long-term outcomes of the project are expected to positively impact TU’s retention, graduation rates, and overall student success and satisfaction. Key impacts include the following measures.

· Increasing the undergraduate retention from 67% to 75%

· Increasing six-year graduation rates from 41% to 48%

· Reducing the number of students placed on financial hold from 30%down to 22.5%

· Improving key student satisfaction measures as detailed in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) results

The project comprehensively addresses both competitive preference priorities. The total budget request to achieve these measurable objectives is $2,246,957 with 56% represented by personnel, 33% in contractual services to implement technological interventions, and 11% set aside for travel, supplies, and implementation of master plan recommendations. Three of the grant-funded personnel and all licensing contracts will be institutionalized after the grant period to assure that TU builds on the retention and graduation improvements for many years to come.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210044

**Institution Name:** Germanna Community College

**Project Title:** Advancing Instructional Equity and Student Achievement

**Institutional Profile/Demographics:** Germanna Community College (GCC) is a top-ranked, two-year public institution in Virginia, serving urban and rural counties with a population nearing 500,000. In Fall 2019, GCC enrolled 8,086 students with 42% identifying as racial and ethnic monitories. While 33% of all GCC students are Pell Eligible, Black students make up the highest percentage, 46%, of total low-income student enrollment. GCC offers classes across five (5) locations through online, hybrid, and traditional instructional options. During the 2019-2020 academic year, GCC awarded 907 Associate degrees, 664 certificates, and 278 career studies certificates resulting in 1,849 total awards.

**Significant Problems:**

· Academic Performance Gaps: There is inconsistent and lower academic success rates for lowincome and underrepresented students among all instructional modes;

· Need for culturally responsive professional development: There is need to develop a comprehensive professional development plan for staff and faculty training addressing instructional equity and systemic barriers related to student performance; and

· Lack of specific instructional supports: Increased support for low-income and minority students are needed to address performance gaps in gateway and end-of-program courses, and academic and personal student needs.

**Project Design:** GCC’s Title III project includes implementing two activities supporting its institution strategic goals in meeting critical needs of GCC’s low-income students:

1. Activity One – Culturally Responsive Curriculum and Instruction seeks capacity building of faculty and staff to implement innovative, culturally responsive, inclusive pedagogies fostering increased support for low-income students. Strategies involve comprehensive faculty and staff professional development training in diversity and inclusivity; establish trained curriculum peer reviewers assessing curriculum revisions applying an equity lens; establishing a Faculty Fellowship program to increase faculty diversity, and employing a Diversity Instructional Designer facilitating curriculum revisions including Open Education Resources adoption.

2. Activity Two – Enhanced Student Supports integrates direct services increasing academic engagement and improve academic supports for all students, particularly low-income, Black students. These strategies include introducing Supplemental Instruction Leaders into targeted online courses; hiring an Academic Advisor for Equity Advancement providing specialized academic and personal supports; expanding student technology loaner program; and promoting academic-workforce connections using: a) Virtual Job Shadow platform, b)optional variable credits curriculum revisions for internship and work-based learning experiences, and c) employing a Work-based Learning Advisor facilitating increased WBL student opportunities.

**Expected Outcomes:** The proposed Activities create new opportunities for increasing success rates and learning outcomes for low-income students by strengthening online course performance, increase Fall-to-Fall retention, improve 3-year graduation rates, and 4-year transfer rates to bachelor’s degree programs. GCC requests $2,219,914 for the five-year program.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210055

**Institution Name:** Prescott College

**Project Title:** Making a Difference: Transforming the Undergraduate Experience

Prescott College Prescott stands as a unique, open-admissions institution providing flexible delivery options and strong partnerships in multiple locations, and through a variety of learning modalities, all preparing diverse, forward-thinking leaders who hold positions as political leaders, community organizers, renewable energy specialists, outdoor recreation planners, clinicians, and architectural designers addressing the climate and social crises facing the world. Prescott College offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs: Bachelor’s degrees in Arts, Sciences, and Fine Arts are granted for programs in nine areas including Arts & Humanities, Adventure Education, Cultural & Regional Studies, Education, Environmental Studies, Psychology and Human Development, Sustainable Food Systems, Sustainable Community Development, and Sustainability Management.

**Significant Problem:** Despite the College’s commitment to improve persistence and graduation rates, critical weaknesses in the areas of student support, advising, and curriculum design undermine retention and degree completion. As a result, less than half the students who enroll complete the first year and less than a third graduate in four years.

**Project Description:** Based on a comprehensive analysis, Prescott College established a single activity entitled Making a Difference: Transforming the Undergraduate Experience with two interrelated components driven by technological improvements to increase student engagement and success from admissions to graduation and beyond: Reconfigured Advising and Support—will include the development of support structures such as personalized Pathways coaching integrated with financial-academic-career plans and early alert with timely interventions to provide a seamless student experience; and Redesigned Curricular Maps and Milestone Courses--will increase engagement and retention by establishing four guided pathways with curricular maps aligned across the cluster of programs within each pathway bolstered by contextualized milestone course increasing academic challenge and engagement. Each of the two components are aligned with their respective Competitive Preference Priorities: 1) Tutoring, Counseling and Student Service Programs, and 2) Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills.

**Project Outcomes:** Making a Difference: Transforming the Undergraduate Experience will significantly impact student success. Successful milestone course completion will increase by 10%, retention from year-to-year will increase by 15%, and graduation will increase by 10%. These results will contribute to institutional self-sufficiency and align with the College’s Comprehensive Development Plan, GPRA and the goals of the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program.

# **Allocation of Budget:** With the full request totaling $2,227,547, grant funds directly support the Activity, with 38% in Personnel and Fringe Benefits, 2% in Travel, .0003% in Supplies, 14% in Contractual, 2% in construction, and 44% in Other. The budget also supports the implementation of Competitive Preference Priorities 1 and 2.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210068

**Institution Name:** Wayne State College

**Project Title:** Wayne State Interventions: A Path to Sustained Enrollment, Retention, and Graduation Rates "WayS In"

**Institutional Profile:** Wayne State College (WSC) is a comprehensive four-year, public college located in rural, northeastern Nebraska.

**Significant Problems:** Students from low-income families who are eligible for Pell Grants, those who are the first in their family to attend college, and students of color are not graduating from WSC at the same rates as students outside these categories. Retention challenges for these groups start in the first year and are most notable for freshmen students who earn a D, F, or No Credit in their first term. Student support services are not located in the same building. And there is no clear data on when students are using support services, what services students are receiving, and what services they find most helpful. Receiving reliable qualitative feedback from students on their sense of belonging, engagement, interests, and challenges are missing as faculty and staff struggle to target appropriate interventions to the students who are struggling from the first year through to graduation. A diversifying student body increases the need for cultural competency for faculty and students. There is no support system for faculty to change and create courses using universal design, innovative course delivery, and cultural competency. In addition, faculty need professional development and support to effectively integrate work-based learning opportunities into courses that students and industry partners find meaningful. Clear expectations and support have the potential to support student employment, the local community, and the college’s fiscal stability.

**Title III Goals:** Based on the analysis completed by the comprehensive development plan, WSC has identified two goals: 1) to close the achievement gaps in first-year retention and completion rates for Pell-eligible students, first-generation students, and student of color; and to improve the institutional structures and campus culture to be more responsive to the demographic shirts and workforce development needs of the region. To achieve these goals, WSC will improve instruction, improve campus climate, and increase engagement in student support services.

**Activities/Strategies to meet need:** To achieve these institutional goals and objectives, WSC will carry out five strategies:

1. Implement Supplemental Instruction in high-risk courses;

2. Provide professional development and resources through a new Center for Faculty Development and Innovation;

3. Develop a First Year Experience course support a smooth college transition, provide information about campus resources, build a sense of community among students, and increase students’ cultural competency;

4. Expand Pharos360 with additional software solutions, users, referral structure, and solutions for struggling students; and

5. Renovate Brandenburg Hall to co-locate support services to facilitate access.

**Measurable Objectives and Performance Indicators:**

1) Increase full-time degree-seeking undergraduates from 1,034 to 1,250 Pell-eligible students; from 1,297 to 1,600 first generation students, and from 443 to 550 students of color. 2) Increase overall freshman fall-to-fall retention rate by cohort from 73% to 77%. 3) Increase 6-year graduation rate of first-time full-time undergraduates from 49% to 55%.

**Total Funds:** $2,124,188

# **PR Award #:** P031A210080

**Institution Name:** Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas

**Project Title:** Building Access for Success

Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA) is a public two-year college in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Since 1996, the college has also operated small campuses at Stuttgart and Dewitt in Arkansas County. PCCUA’s five-county service area contains a larger proportion of black citizens than the state as a whole (45.7% vs. 15.7% for Arkansas), lower household income ($36,850 vs. $41,264), and higher poverty rates (22.8% vs. 19.1%). The service area also has low educational attainment, especially at the collegiate level, where service area rates are below 15%, compared to 20.6% for the state. In Fall 2020, PCCUA enrolled 1,093 students, with more than half (58%) part-time. Nearly half (47.3%) are minorities (44.6% African-American). Many (41.9%) are first generation in college, and more than half (68%) receive Pell grants. Numerous students have exhausted their eligibility and must look elsewhere for financial assistance. 

Given these characteristics, it is not surprising that more students at PCCUA (31.7%) are pursuing degrees that prepare them for immediate entry into the workforce rather than for transfer to a four-year baccalaureate program (31.7%). Unfortunately, access to those preferred occupation/technical programs is limited by the fact that, unlike the Associate of Arts degree, no courses in non-transfer certificate and degree programs are offered online or as hybrids. Even with two smaller campuses, each some 60 miles from the main campus at Helena-West Helena, too many students have childcare, eldercare, or job responsibilities, along with unreliable transportation, to be able to stick with and complete programs available only on-campus. The Covid pandemic, which required a shift to online-only instruction, shone a spotlight on this deficiency, which clearly must be addressed to assure access becomes much more available than it is now. Complicating this situation, PCCUA’s technology is far behind the times, few faculty and staff are aware of best practices for online teaching and student support, and many students are not proficient in using computers for online instruction.

The College will address these problems through the proposed Title III project by providing the following:

· Up-to-date technology to provide access to online resources. Networking switches must be replaced to provide a 10 Gigabit backbone connection. SMART classrooms will be added on each campus to support Zoom and other functions. VMWare VDI Solution will give students, faculty, and staff their own remote workspaces, allowing them to access virtual desktops via a web browser

· A Virtual Technology Academy to serve student skill acquisition and provide faculty and staff professional development.

· New AAS options and online occupational/technical instruction. Reorganization of existing programs to develop an AAS in Multi-crafts Technology plus creation of a new AAS in Occupational Therapy Assistant will add two more degree options. In addition, all occupational/technical programs will revise courses to create online or hybrid options where these are possible.

By the end of the grant period, PCCUA expects to see the following changes:

· At least 20 occupational/technical courses will be available online or as hybrids;

· Fall-to-fall retention will increase at least 10 percentage points to at least 42.9%; and

· The 3-year graduation rate will increase by at least 5 percentage points over current baselines.

Overall grant request for the 5 years: $2,250,000

# **PR Award #:** P031A210088

**Institution Name:** Tulsa Community College

**Project Title:** Pathways to Early Engagement, Academic Success, and Career Readiness

**Contact Person for the Title III Proposal:** Tulsa Community College, 6111 E. Skelly Dr., Tulsa, OK, 74135-6198; Leigh B. Goodson, Ph.D., President and CEO, leigh.goodson@tulsacc.edu, (918) 595-7868.

**Population Served:** Tulsa Community College (TCC) is the largest two-year college in Oklahoma and the only one to operate a four-campus system. TCC serves over 22,000 students in college programs annually. Four fully equipped campuses – Metro, Northeast, Southeast and West – populate the Tulsa area, along with several community campuses in the suburban areas. TCC is consistently ranked in the top two percent of more than 1,150 community colleges nationally in the number of associate degrees awarded in all disciplines. In fact, TCC serves more students in higher education in northeastern Oklahoma than any other public college or university. The College is regularly among the state’s top three institutions in first-time college freshman enrollment. Tulsa Community College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is authorized by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

TCC serves a four-county radius that includes Tulsa, Wagoner, Rogers, and Osage counties. Tulsa is the second largest metropolitan area in Oklahoma with almost 1 million people. Its roots as the “Oil Capital of the World” provide Tulsa with tremendous resources at the epicenter of America’s heartland. Yet, efforts to build bridges out of poverty are ongoing and the underlying issues are systemic and complex. Nine out of 10 Tulsa public school students are eligible for and participate in free and reduced lunch programs.

**Project Goals:** The goals of the project are aligned with TCC institutional goals from its strategic plan and focus on three major activities: (1) increasing student engagement, retention, and completion with success coaching embedded in the mandatory College Success course; (2) embedded tutoring and support in developmental reading and writing courses; and (3) increasing work-based learning experiences. The project builds on successful research-based developmental education models including the Pathways to Success program (PWAY), the Targeted Interventions for Developmental Education Students (TIDES) program, and recommendations from the Kellogg Institute at the National Center for Developmental Education at Appalachian State University. The project addresses Competitive Preference Priorities One and Two.

**Outcomes:** Nine activity objectives focus on (1) increasing the success rates in developmental reading and writing courses; (2) increasing retention and completion rates of first-time degree/certificate-seeking students; (3) increasing preparation and placement in work-based learning experiences; and (4) increasing fiscal stability through increased tuition revenue. In alignment with GPRA performance indicators, the objectives will improve fall-to-fall retention rates, three-year completion rates, and result in a moderate and reasonable cost per successful program outcome.

**Five-Year Project Budget:** $2,250,000

# **PR Award #:** P031A210091

**Institution Name:** Northwestern Oklahoma State University

**Project Title:** Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) LASSO Project (Leadership, Academic Success, and Superior Outcomes): Enhancing Student Success, Engagement, and Purpose-Driven Education

**Institutional Profile and Population Served:** Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) was established in 1897 as the second training school for teachers in the Oklahoma Territory. NWOSU has evolved into a university that operates three locations and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in over 40 areas of study. NWOSU is the only four-year institution covering a broad, rural area of 10,000+ square miles. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, NWOSU serves a large percentage of low-income (61%), traditional (80%), and first-generation (47%) students.

**Goals:** Over the past six years, NWOSU has experienced a more than 17% drop in student enrollment and plummeting state appropriations (an almost 24% decline). Over the same time frame, NWOSU has been unable to boost its significantly low retention and graduation rates, with rates trending well below the rates of Oklahoma peer institutions and national averages. The university retained only 57% of first time, full time (FTFT) students between fall of 2019 and fall of 2020, and the 2013 FTFT cohort’s six-year graduation rate was an appallingly low 32% compared to national averages that have historically averaged 57%. Low retention, declining enrollment, and dwindling state appropriations have led to tuition increases that negatively impact the low income student population NWOSU serves. Through a comprehensive examination of NWOSU’s academic programs, institutional management, and fiscal stability, the university has developed a comprehensive approach to resolve major and chronic problems. NWOSU will employ and integrate four distinct strategies to achieve increased retention and graduation goals and build a stronger institutional infrastructure to support student success: 1. Establish a central advising/coaching center (LASSO Center) and adopt a comprehensive student coaching rather than providing limited academic advising. 2. Re-design NWOSU’s first-year experience course to include high-impact practices. 3. Implement Complete College America’s Purpose First strategy to build a culture of purpose driven education and help students build strong links between education and career goals. 4. Improve the university’s infrastructure and ability to support students through an early alert system and purposeful professional development for faculty and staff.

**Expected Outcomes:** By September 30, 2026, NWOSU will achieve these project outcomes: 1) increase retention of FTFT students to 70%; 2) increase the percentage of students who identify their educational purpose/link to career goals to 90%; 3) increase the percentage of students who report improved financial literacy to 90%; 4) increase the percentage of FTFT students showing sufficient progress to graduate in six years to 37%; 5) increase retention of students flagged as at risk via the early alert system to 47%; 6) and 7) increase students’ perception of good to excellent value in interactions with faculty to 60% and advisors to 62%); 8) increase to 80% faculty and staff participation in professional development activities that promote student success; and 9) build greater fiscal stability through increased annual tuition revenue of $298,500.

**Funds Requested:** $2,083,788

# **PR Award #:** P031A210092

**Institution Name:** Trocaire College

**Project Title:** TroCARES: Trocaire College Active Response and Engagement System

**Institutional Profile:** Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1958 and located in Buffalo, New York, Trocaire College is the third-largest workforce development provider in Western New York. Trocaire recruits and serves a high-need, diverse student population of about 1,300 including 88% pursuing an AA degree, 73% transfer students, 62% part-time students, 30% underrepresented minorities, and 59% Pell-eligible students.

**Significant Problem:** Trocaire defines itself as an opportunity college with student success at the heart of its endeavors. Despite multi-year efforts to foster student success, closing retention and graduation gaps for underrepresented students remains elusive and far too many transfer students enter with debt and leave without a degree. In the comprehensive development plan (CDP), Trocaire reviewed what did not work in the past and identified four themes: 1) lack of shared vision for student success; 2) inadequate technology infrastructure; 3) limited knowledge of student processes; 4) planning without thinking through the potential pitfalls of an implementation. Trocaire understands that it must do something on a scale not yet attempted to achieve the desired retention and graduation gains and for all students to realize their full potential.

**Title III Goal/Main Activity:** The proposed project will provide a comprehensive student support structure, fostering student success from enrollment to graduation. TroCARES has three goals: 1) to close the retention and graduation gap between underrepresented minorities and White students; 2) to increase the number of transfer students who graduate; and 3) to build the internal capacity to realize student-centric efficiencies and seize opportunities to promote and coordinate student success.

**Strategies to Meet Need:**

1. Foster and institutionalize a shared philosophy of student success via training, student-centric policy development, and additional strategies (CPP 1 & 2)

2. Purchase a student information system (SIS) with a retention module, integrate it with all campus platforms to link all office functions, and train all faculty and staff

3. Expand digital learning and enhance student-centric best practices

4. Provide just-in-time guidance via orientation, Welcome Back, and case management

5. Enhance Guided Pathways for students to explore, choose, plan, and complete their education in a timely and affordable way (CPP 2).

**Measurable Objectives (Performance Indicators):** Objective 1. Increase 1st-to-2nd-year retention from 53% to 63% for underrepresented students (1st-to-2nd-year retention rate for underrepresented students [FT, PT, Freshman, Transfer]). Objective 2. Increase 3-year graduation rates from 27% to 37% for underrepresented students (3-year graduation rate for underrepresented students). Objective 3. Increase 3-year graduation rates from 80% to 85% for transfer students (3-year graduation rates for transfer students pursuing associate degrees).

**Total Funds:** $2,128,217

# **PR Award #:** P031A210100

**Institution Name:** Lone Star College - Tomball

**Project Title:** Lone Star College Tomball's "The Tomball Experience" Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP)

**Institutional Profile:** Lone Star College (LSC)-Tomball is a public community college and one of seven branch campuses of the LSC system serving students from Harris and Montgomery Counties. LSC-Tomball offers high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education at three locations, the main campus, Creekside Center, and Health Science Building, an LSC Workforce Center of Excellence.

**Significant Problems:** The LSC-Tomball service area has experienced unprecedented cascading traumatic events, including five Federally declared disasters, creating a paradigm shift from student and institutional growth to crisis recovery, and impacting institutional self-sufficiency. Following a comprehensive review of internal and external data and key source documents, LSC-Tomball has developed a comprehensive plan of sustainable solutions, addressing the institutions significant problems:

· Subpar Fall to Fall Persistence, Compared to National Average exacerbated by many low-income and impoverished students who often experience food instability and housing challenges; a high percentage of LSC-T students struggling to complete coursework and underprepared for college-level courses; and a large number of first-generation students who are often unfamiliar with the college environment and navigating new tasks.

· Antiquated Space to Meet Student Academic Support Needs, exacerbated by technology advancements and student needs (including wireless technology); and a lack of centralized space for career and transfer support.

· Inferior Graduation & Transfer Rates Compared to State & National Averages, exacerbated by unaligned academic and support practices to the changing workforce landscape; and traditional advising practices not reflecting today's workforce needs.

· Financial Capacity Strained Due to Enrollment Decline & Reduced State Funding, Exacerbated by Multiple Federally-Declared Natural Disasters And COVID-19 exacerbated by performance-based funding and long-term crisis recovery.

**Project Overview:** The LSC-Tomball project addresses GPRA SIP Performance Indicators through a single activity objective, improve academic success and completion by reducing student and institutional barriers. The project is supported by three key activity components,

incorporating evidence-informed strategies.

**Activity Component 1**: Establish a Career & Transfer Center strengthening equitable access to LSC-Tomball's most vulnerable students (low-income, impoverished, Hispanic, first-gen, FTIC) through centralized academic/support services, reconfigured space, and modernized technology/resources Outcome: Increase fall to fall Persistence

**Activity Component 2:** Align Academic & Support Practices to Workforce Needs via research and innovative improvements to professional development, instructional methods, advising practices, and program curriculum Outcome: Increase on-time Graduation & Transfer

**Activity Component 3:** Strengthen Enrollment Strategies & Employer Partnerships through intentional, strategic planning and innovative evidence-informed practices Outcome: Increase full-time Enrollment

**Total SIP Project Funds Requested:** $1,510,970.65

# **PR Award #:** P031A210107

**Institution Name:** Keuka College

**Project Title:** Keuka College Title III Strengthening Institutions Program Grant: Barrier Reduction to Accelerate Student Success (BRASS) Project

**Institutional Profile:** Keuka College (KC), located in Keuka Park, New York, is a small, rural, private, residential college. KC was founded in 1890 to make quality education affordable for residents in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. KC offers degree programs on campus and online through its Adult and Online Education programs. KC is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The institution received full reaffirmation of full accreditation through 2023. Additionally, KC has received specialized accreditation for the following programs: Business (International Accreditation Council for Business Education), Teacher Education (Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation), Nursing (New York State Board of Regents and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education), Occupational Therapy (Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education) and Social Work (Council on Social Work Education).

**Problems:** A critical review of KC’s strengths and weaknesses identified the following challenges: (1) Low fall-to-fall persistence rates, poor good academic standing rates, and lower success rates in gateway freshmen courses for low-income and first-generation students; (2) KC’s ineffective use of data to inform decisions that support student success; limited use of early alert software to provide real-time information about student performance and mental health issues; (3) Decreased enrollment and low retention rates result in decreased tuition revenue; (4) Inconsistent/unclear degree pathways and academic advising result in students taking more courses than necessary and reduces the likelihood of on-time graduation; (5) Ineffective enrollment management and course scheduling processes lead to students’ inability to register for the courses they need when they need them, leading to lower on-time graduation; and (6) The combination of lower overall enrollment, high attrition, and low-enrolled programs results in decreased tuition revenue.

**Proposed Activities:** (1) Strengthen onboarding and transition support for low-income, first-generation students; and (2) Develop course pathways for every major and integrate advising and scheduling to promote improved program velocity and completion.

**Goals:** (1) Foster highly engaged students, employees, and alumni; (2) Provide innovative and culturally responsive learning opportunities; (3) Infuse an appreciation for diversity, cultural experiences, and service in the context of the liberal arts; and (4) Achieve financial sustainability within a mission-driven culture.

**Outcomes:** (1) Increased persistence rates for low-income and first-generation students; (2) Increased academic good standing rates for low-income and first-generation students; (3) Increased 4-and-6-year graduation rates for low-income and first-generation students; (4) Increased end-of-term GPAs for low-income and first-generation students; (5) Increased success rates in gateway course for low-income and first-generation students; and (6) Increased program velocity for students in programs with Guided Pathways.

**Funds Requested:** $1,974,266

# **PR Award #:** P031A210110

**Institution Name:** Arapahoe Community College

**Project Title:** Arapahoe Community College's Pathways to Equity, Access to Knowledge (PEAK) Project

Beginning in July 2019, Arapahoe Community College (ACC) began analyzing its strengths, weaknesses, and significant problems related to academic programs, institutional management, and fiscal stability. A formalized process which was comprised of over 650 constituents internal and external to the ACC community began, which led to the identification of three areas that need to bolstered in order to effectively support low-income students at ACC:

1. Increasing student retention through strengthening advising

2. Closing achievement gaps and promising inclusive excellence in teaching and learning

3. Data analytics and predictive analytics in support of student success and completion.

To support these activities, ACC is requesting $447,400 in funding for year one and continued funding for the four years thereafter to expand ACC’s capacity to serve low-income students in order to increase enrollment, retention, graduation, and overall program costs.

The equity gaps among ACC low income students of color as compared with their peers are vast and complex. Barriers currently exist that impede underrepresented students from achieving academic success at the rate of their peers. To reduce these inequities over the course of five years, ACC is proposing the Pathways to Equity, Access to Knowledge (PEAK) project. Through this program, ACC will enhance its academic advising model, offer a robust professional development program focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for faculty, and upgrade technological systems and data capacity to proactively support students through predictive analytics and timely interventions.

The ACC PEAK Project will also provide interventions that address Competitive Preference Priority 1 and Competitive Preference Priority 2. These interventions include individualized holistic academic and career advising that intentionally connects students to effective student services including tutoring and basic needs screenings (CPP1) and connecting students with workbased learning experiences (such as internships, apprenticeships, and fellowships) that align with in-demand industry sectors or occupations (CPP2) through the creation of individualized plans.

The institutional commitment allows the PEAK project to hire exceptionally qualified staff and conduct continuous evaluation and improvement in order to assure the following objectives are met:

· 62% of first-time full-time students will be retained from fall-to-fall

· 50% of first-time part-time students will persist from semester-to-semester

· 22% of first-time students will graduate within 150% of normal time

· 35.2% of those enrolled will be low-income students (as indicated by Pell eligibility)

Nine other objectives will be measured over the course of the grant period to strengthen ACC and its ability to provide innovative and responsive educational and economic opportunities in an accessible, inclusive environment that promotes success for students.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210116

**Institution Name:** Tillamook Bay Community College

**Project Title:** Reimagining Equity in Services for Holistic Advising and Pathway Expansion (RESHAPE)

**Project Overview.** Title III funding will allow Tillamook Bay Community College (TBCC) to undertake a Guided Pathways model to improve student retention and graduation. Specifically, RESHAPE will optimize the college’s potential and faculty commitment and existing Guided Pathway structures to undertake the following: (1) a redesign of the student services department with more streamlined support to students, focusing on providing equity in services; (2) augmented career services with stronger linkages to work-based learning experiences, career assessments, and in-depth career exploration; (3) create seven Learning Communities with a First Year Experience; (4) develop a new associate’s degree in Nursing; and (5) increase the Foundation’s capacity to support student retention and success with improved services and processes.

RESHAPE will allow TBCC to improve retention from 47% to 58% and graduation from 33.7% to 40% for first-time, increased enrollment by 13.5%, full-time degree-seeking students. Other objectives include increased retention for part-time degree-seeking students from 32% to 41%, increase the number of students enrolled in an Associate’s degree in Nursing each year from 0 to 16, increased student participation in Learning Communities from 0% to 80%, increase in students preparing career plans from 0% to 95%, increase student satisfaction, recover 3% of costs from increased retention, and increase the Foundation’s return on investment. The table below provides a summary of TBCC’s key demographic statistics. All components and objectives will be integrated with TBCC’s ongoing work in its Guided Pathways model.

This project responds to both Competitive Preference Priorities 1 and 2. The annual budget totals $450,000.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210118

**Institution Name:** Eastern Oregon University

**Project Title:** Building Roadmaps in Development of Guided Experiences for Students (BRIDGES)

**Project Overview.** Title III funding will provide Eastern Oregon University (EOU) with the resources to implement High Impact Practices that will improve student retention and graduation. EOU’s project, BRIDGES, will optimize the university’s potential and faculty/staff commitment to undertake the following activities: (1) Proactive advising redesign, which will reinvigorate academic advising with a strengthened structure and additional student support; (2) Corequisite writing and math investment to improve student outcomes in gateway courses, close equity gaps, and support faculty professional development; (3) Experiential learning program, to provide “hands-on” learning experiences for student engagement; (4) First Year Experience to increase student engagement and retention in the first year; (5) Systematic approach to scheduling to improve the ability to intersect data on course demand, degree plans, and degree modifications, with the ultimate goal of improving student time to completion; and (6) Foster a sense of belonging by providing additional services to historically marginalized students, with a focus on GLBTQA, first-generation, low-income, rural, disabled, and veteran students.

BRIDGES will allow EOU to improve retention from 60% to 72% and graduation from 29.75% to 36% for first-time full-time students, increased enrollment by 7.5%, full-time degree-seeking students. Other objectives include increased retention for part-time degree-seeking students from 27.5% to 34%, decrease DFWU in gateway math from an average of 32% to 25%, increased student participation in Experiential Learning from 50% to 90%, increase student satisfaction, recover costs from 3% increased retention, and decrease the grant cost per degree from $726 to $571. The table below provides a summary of EOU’s key demographic statistics. All components and objectives will be integrated with EOU’s ongoing work on its strategic plan, The Ascent 2029.

**Institution Name:**Eastern Oregon University City: La Grande, Oregon

**Geography Served:**10-county region of Eastern Oregon, and all of Oregon

**Purpose/Mission:**EOU guides student inquiry through integrated, high-quality liberal arts and professional programs that lead to responsible and reflective action in a diverse and interconnected world.

**Grant Purpose:**To improve retention and graduation rates, and quality of services for all students by providing strategic supports in academic and student services.

**Public/Private:**Public **Affiliation:**n/a

**Level:**Master’s degree-level institution in the State of Oregon

**Primary Service Populations:**(1) students seeking a bachelor’s degree; (2) online students; (3) rural students; (4) returning adults; (5) 4-year transfer students; (6) high school students 

**Programs of Study:**(1) traditional terminal bachelor’s degrees; (2) traditional master’s degrees; (3) certificate programs; (4) pre-professional programs; (5) partnership degree programs; (6) fully online degree programs; (7) dual enrollment with high school

**Student Characteristics (2018-19) Enrollment in Credit Programs:**4,742 (headcount); 2,332 FTE.

**Gender: Male:**38.5%; **Female:**61.5% **Average Age**: 56% of undergraduates, Ages ≤ 24; 44% of undergraduates ≥ age 25 **Demographics:**African American, 2%; Asian, 2%; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 4%; Caucasian, 70%; Hispanic, 12%; Native American, 2%; two or more races, 5%; unknown, 2%; nonresident alien, 2% **Faculty Characteristics Full-time:**102; **Part-time/adjunct:**80; **Student-to-Faculty Ratio:**26:1

This project addresses both Competitive Preference Priorities. The annual budget is $450,000.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210123

**Institution Name:** Alamance Community College

**Project Title:** PACE: Persistence from Application to Completion in Education

**Institutional Profile/Demographics:** One of the first public community colleges in North Carolina, Alamance Community College lies between Research Triangle Park and Greensboro in Alamance County. The College educates more than 6,000 students each year, from skilled trades to biotechnology and cybersecurity. The College awards transfer Associate Degrees in Arts, Science, Engineering, Fine Arts in Music, and Fine Arts in Visual Arts, as well as Associates in Applied Science and General Education. ACC's fastest-growing enrollment is in Industrial Technologies, reflecting the County's critical Advanced Manufacturing Sector, with programs in Graphic Design, Industrial Systems, Mechatronics, Drafting, Machining, and Welding. ACC’s Continuing Education program provides credentials for critical occupations such as public safety, construction, health care, and trades. Fifty-six percent of students receive Pell grants, and 37% of students are minority students.

**Goals:** ACC is experiencing major problems affecting students and the College: low first-time, full-time student retention, especially among at-risk students; low student utilization of support services; lack of targeted professional development dealing with at-risk students; and low pass rates in critical first-year courses. The college’s ability to resolve these weaknesses is hampered by inadequate advising from insufficient financial resources. ACC’s overall project goals are threefold: 1) increase retention and graduation rates for FTFT students, 2) improve institutional systems to support student success, and 3) improve fiscal stability through increased retention. In order to achieve these goals, ACC will use the success coach model to apply intrusive advising and technology alerts to coaches embedded in academic divisions. Professional development funds will enable increased effectiveness of coaches.

**Expected Outcomes:** As a result of implementing PACE, ACC will achieve the following outcomes by September 30, 2026: 1) increase fall-to-fall retention to 70%; 2) increase fall-to-fall retention of Black students to 56%; 3) increase fall-to-fall retention of Hispanic students to 70%; increase 3-yr graduation rates to 32%; increase 3-year graduation rates of low-income students to 32%; increase 3-yr graduation rate of Black students to 21%; increase success rates of Black students in MAT courses to 54%; increase percent of faculty using Aviso alerts to 65%; increase percentage of students meeting with an advisor to 65%; increase percentage of students assigned to a dedicated full-time success coach to 100%; increase percentage of alerts for at-risk students responded by a success coach to 90%; increase percentage of faculty/staff in targeted training for at-risk students to 90%; increase percentage of at-risk students engaged with success coaches to 50%; increase FTE retention by 10%.

**Funds Requested:** Total Grant=$2,110,713, Total Grant Request to SIP=$1,816,226

# **PR Award #:** P031A210139

**Institution Name:** Black Hills State University

**Project Title:** Targeted Interventions for Student Success and Faculty Excellence: The Black Hills State University Title III Proposal

**Applicant:** Black Hills State University (BHSU) is a four-year public university located in Spearfish, SD, in the Black Hills region of western South Dakota. In a state that has no community colleges, BHSU provides two-year as well as four-year degrees plus several graduate

programs and has a total enrollment of 3,858 students.

**Requested Funding:** $2,160,700 through an Individual Development Grant 

Institutional Problems: BHSU has experienced long-standing enrollment declines and low retention and graduation rates, exacerbated by COVID-19 with particularly negative effects on low-income and American Indian students. A two-tiered advising system (professional advisors for 1st/2nd year students and faculty advisors for 3rd/4th year students) provides inconsistent messaging and support. Few students participate in high-impact practices (internships, facultyled research opportunities, service learning) that support student engagement. With these factors, many students in surveys indicate the absence of a supportive environment on campus. There also is no central mechanism for faculty to upgrade skills in pedagogy, technology, high-impact practices, and experiential learning to better support student engagement. BHSU recently created an Office of Career Services, but its lone employee has little time to develop internships and work-based learning opportunities geared to student goals and in-demand occupations.

**Project Summary:** BHSU has designed this proposal with an overarching goal to increase student success, persistence, and graduation rates through: 1) professional advising and coaching

throughout the student lifecycle; 2) faculty professional development that better supports student engagement, and 3) enhanced student supports both inside and outside the classroom. The university has these three core objectives:

1. Objective 1: Increase retention, persistence, and graduation rates through enhanced advising, mentoring, and student supports

2. Objective 2: Strengthen professional development for faculty through targeted interventions to improve pedagogy, promote experiential learning, and increase use of high-impact practices that support students

3. Objective 3: Strengthen student engagement and success through additional tutoring/supplemental instruction and work-based learning opportunities.

**Selected Project Outcomes:** Success of this project will be assessed via measurable performance indicators aligned with the project goal and three objectives. Some key outcomes to achieve by the end of funding period are the following:

· Increase the six-year graduation rate for FTFT students from 45.2% to 50.5%

· Increase fall-to-fall retention of FTFT students from 65% to 72.5% and increase the retention of FTFT American Indian students from 31% to 42%

· Increase from 0 to 100% the number of general education courses with experiential learning components that support student needs

· Increase from 68% to 82% the success rate of students in key introductory/gateway courses through enhanced tutoring and support

**Competitive Preference Priorities:** BHSU is responding to Competitive Preference Priority 1 and Competitive Preference Priority 2.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210145

**Institution Name:** Highline College

**Project Title:** Highline College Title III Strengthening Institutions Program -- Breaking the Barriers: Engaging Our Students to Support Their Success

**Problems:** Academic Programs (AP) problems: wide equity gaps in early momentum metrics; low gateway course completion rates; fall-to-fall first-time, full-time retention rates that are drastically lower than the national average, as are 6-year graduation rates for all students and with wide equity gaps. Institutional Management (IM) problems: weak culture of evidence to address problems; inadequate intake and advising to support student momentum to graduation; and insufficient professional development to support institutional change. These challenges contribute to Highline College’s Fiscal Stability (FS) problem: poor retention rates contributing to declining revenue.

**Overall Goals:** The goals to solve these problems include AP Goal 1: increase pass rates in gateway courses; IM Goal 1: develop data capacity and campus data literacy to close the equity gap to student success; IM Goal 2: re-design the student onboarding experience to give students a strong start; IM Goal 3: transform advising to increase student momentum and graduation in their chosen pathway; IM Goal 4: provide comprehensive professional development focused on closing student equity gaps. These goals will improve Highline College’s self-sufficiency and capacity to serve low-income students and close the equity gaps with FS Goal 1: stabilized student tuition revenue through improved student retention through graduation.

**Outcomes:** Objectives related to major problems are designed to measure changes in improved core gateway course pass rates (Obj 1-2); reduce the equity gap in credits completed compared to the credits attempted for Black and Hispanic students (Obj 3); improve student momentum by declaring their program of study within 30 college-level credits (Obj 4); increased fall-to-fall retention (Obj 5) and graduations within 6-years (Obj 6). To support sustainability in closing equity gaps, comprehensive faculty and staff professional development will be offered (Obj 7) and culturally responsive best practices implemented and shared across campus (Obj 8).

**Strategies:** Highline College will implement comprehensive and interrelated evidencebased strategies to achieve these outcomes under five key activities: 1) providing course-specific supports to improve pass rates and close equity gaps; 2) improve data infrastructure to increase data capacity, tools, and campus data literacy; 3) provide a consistent onboarding process and support for undecided students; 4) implement holistic, culturally responsive, and proactive advising from pre-enrollment to faculty advising within the chosen field of study; and 5) comprehensive professional development to foster a culture of inquiry and evidence in implementing practices to close equity gaps. Supported by best practices and research, implementation of these strategies will result in increased capacity to equitably serve low income students and close the equity gaps at Highline College.

**Funds Requested:** $2,249,407

# **PR Award #:** P031A210147

**Institution Name:** Willamette University

**Project Title:** Pathways to Success: Preparing Diverse Students for Careers in Growing Industries

Willamette University – Salem, Oregon

Founded in 1842, Willamette University (WU) is a nationally renowned private liberal arts university in Salem, Oregon. Our core commitments include academic excellence in teaching, research, and student learning; a diverse and intellectually stimulating learning community; and preparing globally-minded students for meaningful lives of professional achievement and civic contribution. WU is Title III eligible, and one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in the Pacific Northwest, with an established history of creating and sustaining pathways to success for Pell-eligible and underrepresented students.

**Project Activities**

In order to prepare students to be engaged citizens and also work-ready graduates we propose 1) to develop a new School of Computing and Data Science, and 2) to redesign the Center for Quantitative Understanding, Analysis and Design (QUAD). Student support services such as supplemental instruction, tutoring and near-peer mentoring are embedded into the project design. These activities will enable us to make big data, coding, informatics, and design thinking available and accessible to underrepresented students who may not otherwise have considered entering technical fields. Participation will increase students’ competitiveness in the job market and enable them to apply technical skills in a way that remains sensitive to the human context.

**Project Goals**

Based on comprehensive analysis, the institution’s overall goals are to 1) grow enrollment by creating multiple professional schools with cross-disciplinary programs grounded in the liberal arts, and 2) improve retention and graduation rates, particularly among Pell-grant recipients, first-generation students and students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

**Project Objectives**

· Objective 1A: Increase enrollment by 5% annually for the five years of the grant period

· Objective 1B: Reach an annual enrollment of 200 students in the School of Computing and Data Science by Fall 2026

· Objective 2A: Improve the first-fall-to-second-fall retention rate of low-income, Pelleligible and underrepresented students to achieve parity with their peers (83%)

· Objective 2B: Ensure that students in the School of Computing and Data Science persist at a rate equal to or higher than the general population

· Objective 3: Improve 6-year graduation rates for low-income, Pell-eligible and underrepresented students to achieve parity with their peers (72%)

**Competitive Preference Priorities**

WU is requesting both Competitive Preference Priorities for this competition, as the project includes tutoring and other student supports as well as work-based learning experiences.

**Funds Requested:** $1,939,539

# **PR Award #:** P031A210152

**Institution Name:** Sam Houston State University

**Project Title:** Strengthening Academic Support at SHSU

**Institutional Profile:** Founded in 1879, Sam Houston State University is a regional comprehensive public university serving the rural and suburban regions of eastern Texas between Houston and Dallas. SHSU serves a diverse student body of 22,000: 25.5% are Hispanic, 16.6% are African-American, and 49.0% are White. More than half of our graduates each year are the first in their families to earn a postsecondary degree. Over 90 bachelor's degree programs, 55 master’s degree programs, and 10 doctoral programs are administered by 8 colleges, including the new College of Osteopathic Medicine. Roughly half of our 6,500 incoming students each year transfer from a regional community college. While racial disparities do require significant attention, retention and graduation rates of SHSU regularly outperform peer institutions.

**Significant Problems to Solve:** Based on the strengths and weaknesses of the academic programs, institutional management, and financial stability, four problems have been identified:

1. First-year students’ success rates must increase in critical gateway courses.

2. Workforce readiness is not integrated into curricula; students are not ready to enter the workforce.

3. All students – particularly students of color – need a sense of community and belonging.

4. The university needs an effective plan for students to recover academically.

**Proposed Activities:** In order to solve these four problems at SHSU, several program activities will be either fully developed or scaled from pilot programs:

· Increasing and improving academic support in gateway courses with historically high D/F/W rates.

· Creating a course-based internship experience for both continuing and transfer students.

· Scaling the First-year Seminar course for all first-year students.

· Scaling of Freshman Learning Communities.

· Development and implementation of residential early start summer bridge programming.

· Scaling of recovery courses and support for students on academic probation or suspension.

**Outcomes:** Activities will impact several measurable outcomes, improving the needs stated

above.

· Several gateway courses will be redesigned for strategic success support. (Year 1: 4 courses; Year 2: 4 courses; Year 3: 4 courses; Year 4: 4 courses; Year 5: 2 courses).

· More academic departments will provide internship opportunities for students. (Year 2: 15%; Year 3: 20%; Year 4: 25%; Year 5: 30%).

· Enrollment of FTIC in the first-year seminar course (UNIV 1101) will increase from current levels. (Year 2: 40%; Year 3: 60%; Year 4: 70%; Year 5: 80%)

· Enrollment of FTIC in freshmen learning communities will increase from current levels. (Year 2: 25%; Year 3: 40%; Year 4: 50%; Year 5: 65%)

· Early Start Summer Bridge will be designed with growing enrollment each year. (Year 2 : 100 students; Year 3: 200 students; Year 4: 300 students; Year 5: 400 students)

· All academically suspended students will have support beginning in Year 1; support for those on the academic probation recovery course will increase from a majority in Year 1. (Year 1: 50%; Year 2: 60%; Year 3: 70%; Year 4: 75%; Year 5: 100%)

**Funds Requested:** $2,212,162

# **PR Award #:** P031A210154

**Institution Name:** Grand View University

**Project Title:** Project Student Ready: Transforming Grand View University

**Institutional Profile:** Grand View University (GV), is a private, nonprofit four-year university founded in 1896 in Des Moines, Iowa. The Higher Learning Commission has consistently accredited GV and its 40 undergraduate and five graduate programs since 1959. GV’s student population is diverse. Approximately 26% of the student body are students of color. Almost 38% of students are from low-income households and eligible for Pell grants and other aid. Each year, 20%-30% of incoming first-year students are identified as needing academic support (ASPN).

**Goals:** Members of GV’s administration, faculty, and staff designed Project Student Ready to mitigate weaknesses in the university’s academic programs, institutional management, and fiscal stability. Problems pinpointed by GV are low fall-to-fall retention of first-time, full time (FTFT) students, especially high-risk students; low pass rates in key courses for FTFT students, especially high-risk students; low pass rates in key sophomore-level courses; an ineffective first-year-experience (FYE) and advising system; lack of capacity to utilize data for institutional decision-making; limited capacity to focus on equity and inclusion; and declining student enrollment and falling revenue. Project Student Ready will implement high-impact and evidence-based educational practices to make impactful and lasting changes. FYE and key course redesign will utilize the Gardner Institute’s Foundations of Excellence and Retention Performance Management; DEI consultants; Co-op work experiences; the Transparency in Learning and Teaching model (TILT); and summer bridge and peer-led learning and mentoring programs. Improvement of academic advising will include creation of a new advising center using EAB’s Advising Office of the Future model, EAB model professional development, and advising software training. DEI programming will comprise contract work with a DEI consultant, professional development for staff and faculty, and integration of DEI elements into Gardner Institute, TILT, and EAB activities. Increased data-informed decision making capacity will involve a new data analyst position, creation of a data dashboard and key performance indicators, and data-informed professional development.

**Expected Outcomes:** Project Student Ready will achieve the following measurable outcomes: 1) increase fall-to-fall retention of all FTFT students to 73%; 2.a) increase fall-to-fall retention of FTFT students of color to 65%; 2.b) increase average fall-to-fall retention of FTFT low-income students to 67%; 2.c) increase fall-to-fall retention of FTFT ASPN students to 61%; 3) increase average pass rate for all FTFT students in key courses to 83%; 4.a) increase average pass rates for FTFT students of color in key courses to 78%; 4.b) increase average pass rate for FTFT low-income students in key courses to 81%; 4.c) increase average pass rate for FTFT ASPN students in key courses to 77%; 5) increase average pass rate for key sophomore-level courses to 84%; 6) increase first-year students' NSSE scores for overall education experience to 3.3; 7) 20 students will participate in co-op learning experience; 8) increase to 80% the percentage of sophomores, juniors, and seniors who meet with their advisor at least 2 times each semester; 9.a) and b) increase to 80% the percentage of full-time faculty and full-time staff who participate in professional development on equity-minded practice in class, advising, and office settings; 10) 100% of departments will use the new student success dashboard for reporting and decision making; 11) increase the HEDS overall campus climate score to 3.9 for students of color; 12) increase annual tuition revenue by $452,758.

**Funds Requested:** $2,242,894

# **PR Award #:** P031A210155

**Institution Name:** Arcadia University

**Project Title:** Advancing Retention through Career Development, Advising, Data Infrastructure, and Inclusive Excellence at Arcadia University (ARCADIA)

Arcadia University, a small private institution located in the greater Philadelphia area, seeks to enhance its institutional capacity to support the success of low-income students through graduation and into job placement, especially for in-demand industry sectors. ARCADIA is designed to address significant institutional challenges that impact academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability and create support infrastructure to allow the University’s students to thrive and succeed at Arcadia and beyond. Arcadia proposes an integrated program fully aligned with its recently framed Adaptive Strategy comprising three high-priority activities: Whole-Life Advising, Inclusive Excellence inside and outside the classroom, and the Career Ecosystem. These initiatives will be interconnected through the pivotal fourth activity, Digital Transformation in which a data warehouse will be developed and implemented to house all student-related information received from and fed into the newly implemented customer relationship management system. Using this system, academic and professional advisors will be able to provide information into the system and receive insights based on predictive analytics. This will enable real-time, personalized support and interventions for low-income students at risk of not persisting after the first-year and beyond. To attain this goal, Arcadia will shift from a single-academic advisor model to a holistic multi-advisor model designed to provide students with support from diverse domains including career development, co- and extracurricular activities. The advising network will be strengthened through new training activities for faculty and staff advisors to ensure they are well informed and prepared to advise and mentor students using rigorous practices. Inclusive Excellence, like Whole-Life Advising, is also designed to improve Arcadia’s ability to support the success of low-income students to graduation and academic success by embedding the principles of inclusive pedagogy throughout the curriculum, with particular emphasis on required first-year and introductory ‘gatekeeper’ courses in the majors in which low-income students often perform less well than peers. This work will be informed by expertise in Arcadia’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring, which will develop training modules and provide guidance supporting faculty members as they transform their courses to incorporate Inclusive Excellence. The enhanced digital infrastructure will allow instructors to identify courses with disparities in grades for lowincome students and to track improvements in this area as courses are enhanced. Complementing these two activities is the creation of an expanded Career Ecosystem to increase the participation of low-income students in two programs: Advancing Students and Professionals for student campus employment and College2Career Scholars, a cohort-based initiative that introduces career exploration to students upon entry to Acadia. These programs will be expanded and refined to ensure that opportunities provided to students enable their development of the jobreadiness skills that employers expect, especially in high demand sectors. This award will allow all student supports to meet the students where they are at any point in their time at Arcadia, making real-time interventions with students at risk of not persisting through to graduation a best practice at Arcadia.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210157

**Institution Name:** University of South Alabama

**Project Title:** Title III SIP - Curating the Second Year Experience for Increased Academic Success and Workforce Readiness

**Institutional Background:** The University of South Alabama (USA), located along the Gulf Coast in Mobile, AL, is a public, four-year institution of higher education that is regionally accredited by Southern

Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The University is proud to host more than 50 bachelor’s, 35 master’s, and 13 doctoral programs across 10 divisions: Pat Capps Covey College of Allied Health Professions; College of Arts and Sciences; Mitchell College of Business; School of Computing; College of Education and Professional Studies; College of Engineering; College of Medicine (one of only two (2) schools offering a medical doctorate (MD) in Alabama); College of Nursing; the Graduate School; and the Auburn University School of Pharmacy at USA.

**Significant Problem:** There is a significant gap (19%) between the six-year graduation rates of traditional students (54%) and students who are first-generation and/or have unmet financial need (35%). Of note, contributing to this difference, 12% of students do not return to USA after their second year of study. The University does not have a Second Year Experience (SYE) program.

**Measurable Objectives and Performance Indicators:**

Objective 1: Increase the percent of second year degree-seeking students who return for their third year from 62% to 65% by September 20, 2026.

Objective 2: Increase the percent of first-time, full-time degree or certificate-seeking students who graduate within 150% of normal time from 45% to 50% by September 30, 2026.

Objective 3.1: Decrease the percentage of second year students whose major is declared as “General Studies” from 1% to less than .10% by September 30, 2026.

Objective 3.2: Decrease the percentage of students who change majors more than once in any single semester of their second year from 18% to 14% by September 30, 2026.

Objective 4: Decrease the percent of students who graduate from a bachelor’s degree program with more than 150% required credit hours from 8% to 5% by September 30, 2026.

**Title III Activities:**

Component 1-Second Year Experience (SYE): SYE Transformational Leadership Program, SYE Faculty Fellows, SYE faculty-student mentor program, SYE faculty/staff training

Component 2-Academic Coaching: Expansion for all at-risk second year students

Component 3-Experiential Learning for second year students: Workforce readiness program, Career Trek

Component 4-Redeveloped tutoring center to include active, collaborative learning configurations: Team-Based Learning (TBL) training and implementation

**Impacts:**

1. Improved access to student services, including improved collaborative learning space in the library

2. A transformational leadership and workforce readiness program

3. Institutionalized academic coaching for exploratory and academic probation students

4. Closing equity gaps

5. Increased student retention, graduation rates, tuition revenue, and employment preparedness among graduation.

**Fall 2020 Census enrollment:** 14,224 (Fall 2020 enrollment), 11,799 (Fall 2020 FTE)

**Average UG age:** 21.7 Gender: Female 67.9% (9,658) Male 32.1% (4,560) Unknown .04% (6)

**Funds requested:** $2,250,000

# **PR Award #:** P031A210159

**Institution Name:** Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College

**Project Title:** Advising, Technology, Training, and INnovation (ATTAIN)

**Project Overview.** With Title III, Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College (Eastern) will undertake a comprehensive approach to improving student retention and graduation. Specifically, ATTAIN will embark on the following components:

1. a redesigned advising model with software-assisted intrusive advising;

2. enhanced career services programming with career exploration tools;

3. expanded instructional innovation with augmentation of online learning;

4. improved data analysis and implementation, including assessment; and

5. increase the Foundation’s capacity to support student retention and success with improved services and systems.

Through this project, Eastern will improve outcomes for first-time full-time degree-seeking students, including increased retention from 45% to 56%; graduation from 25% to 31%; and increased enrollment of 10%. Other objectives include increased retention for part-time degree-seeking students from 45% to 55%, reduce the percentage of all degree-seeking students who receive an academic notification from 14% to 9%, increase in students preparing career plans from 0% to 95%, increase student satisfaction, increase pass rates of select gateway courses, and recover costs from increased retention. The table below provides a summary of Eastern’s key demographic statistics.

This project responds to both Competitive Preference Priorities 1 and 2. The annual budget totals $450,000.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210165

**Institution Name:** Shoreline Community College

**Project Title:** Shoreline Community College Title III SIP grant Project Proposal

Located just north of Seattle, WA, in the Puget Sound, Shoreline Community College (Shoreline) serves about 10,000 each year. Shoreline serves a diverse student body in which 30% of students are eligible for need-based financial aid (Pell Eligible), and nearly 28% of students are the first in their family to attend college (i.e. first-generation college students). Shoreline serves many Historically Underserved Students of Color representing 28% of the student population, including African Americans (11%), American Indians or Native Alaskans (3%), Hispanics or Latinx (12%), and pacific Islanders (2%). For the past decade, Shoreline and King County, where the College resides, have become more ethnically diverse in which 22% of Shoreline residents and 23% of King County residents are foreign born citizens. Shoreline’s student population reflects these demographic trends.

Although Shoreline serves an increasing number and percent of historically underserved students, significant equity gaps persist for critical indicators of student success. For students attaining 15 college-level credits in their first year—an important early indicator— the College has an 11-to-9 point opportunity gap comparing Shoreline’s Historically Underserved Students to other community colleges in the state. In 2019, the College’s fall-to-fall retention rate for UH students of Color was only 44% and only 16% of HU Students of Color completed their degree.

To close these equity gaps and ensure that all students academically succeed, the goal of Shoreline’s SIP project is: To increase the retention, completion, and transfer rates of all students while also closing equity gaps between underserved students and other students.

To achieve this goal Shoreline proposes the following 3 objectives:

1. Increase students who earn 15 college level credits in their 1st year for underserved student by 10 percentage points over baseline, and for nonunderserved students by 10 percentage points over baseline

2. Increase fall to fall retention for underserved students by 10 percentage points over baseline, and for non-underserved students by 5 percentage points over baseline

3. Increase completion and transfer rates for underserved student by 10 percentage points over baseline, and for non-underserved students by 5 percentage points over baseline, over baseline

Shoreline’s project meets both Competitive Preference Priorities (CCP). To meet Competitive Preference Priority 1, Shoreline’s SIP project will develop a first-year student success course, provide enhanced peer tutoring services for gateway math and English courses, redesigned orientation programming with peer mentoring that introduces students to the college and student services, and enhanced mandatory student advising. To meet Competitive Preference Priority 2, the SIP project will expand work-based learning experiences, increase the number of students who are exposed to work-based learning pathways, and increase the overall number of students who choose a work-based learning pathway or opportunity.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210168

**Institution Name:** De Anza College/Foothill-De Anza Community College District

**Project Title:** Meeting Students Where They Are: Culturally Responsive Cohort-Based Models to Improve Student Outcomes

**Applicant:** De Anza College is an open-access, public community college that is part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, the seventh largest district in California. De Anza is one of the most diverse colleges in the state, serving a minority population that is 80% non-white from a wide range of multicultural, immigrant and mixed-income communities in Cupertino, and the cities of San Jose, East San Jose, East Palo Alto and Sunnyvale, as well as in neighboring San Mateo County and Alameda County. With a population of nearly 18,000 students per quarter, it is the size of a small city. It is poised to launch its Guided Pathways cohort model, built on six Village clusters. This project will provide support for the new model as well as increase the college’s learning community cohort model that serves low-income, minority and underserved student populations.

**Title III Part A Project:** De Anza is requesting support for a critically important and exciting project that will strengthen and dramatically improve opportunities, success and a climate of inclusion for its low income, minority and disproportionately underserved students. Institutional problems to be addressed in this Title III project are well-documented and analyzed. The single, integrated activity, will create a centralized, coordinated system of delivery of instructional and wraparound services. Meeting Students Where They Are, is comprised of five components which are critical to improving the success of low-income, minority and disproportionately underserved students. Goals for addressing and closing major gaps are delineated along with measurable objectives to assess their attainment.

· Component I: Create a student-centered, coordinated system of delivery that integrates services to students across the Villages, Learning Communities, and new grant-funded Ethnic and Pride Inclusion Center (EPIC)

· Component II: Increase the number of learning communities serving low-income, minority and disproportionately underserved.

· Component III: Create a robust faculty development and mentorship program.

· Component IV: Increase the Summer Bridge Program to serve more low-income, minority and disproportionately served students.

· Component V: Integrate a Student Internship program into the Villages and EPIC Center.

Strong Personnel, Project Management and Evaluation Plans are included.

**Budget Request Total:** $450,000 over 5 years.

**Competitive Preference Priority #1:** Tutoring, Counseling, and Student Service Programs are documented in project narrative.

**Competitive Preference Priority #2:** Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills. Providing work-based learning experiences (such as internships), that align with in-demand industry sectors and occupations are documented in the project narrative.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210173

**Institution Name:** Columbia Gorge Community College

**Project Title:** CGCC Title III ?Building Equitable Access and Success Project? (EASE)

**Institutional Profile**: Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC), established in 1977, is an accredited, two-year public institution of higher education in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. From its main campus in The Dalles, Oregon, a rural community 80 miles east of Portland, CGCC is the only local provider of postsecondary education serving the seven-county, bi-state Mid-Columbia region. CGCC students typically must navigate challenges presented by transportation, affordable housing, childcare, and broadband access, given the college’s 10,000-square-mile, rural service area. Currently, CGCC offers a full range of courses, including collegiate transfer, career and technical education, pre-college, dual credit, community education, and customized training. As of 2020-21, CGCC offers twelve (12)Associate degrees, ten (10) Certificates, and more credit and non-credit education in the form of Career Pathway Certificates, Non-Credit Training Certificates, and Community Education.

**Project Title:** Building Equitable Access, Success, and Experience (EASE)Project

**Problems:** A critical review of CGCC’s strengths and weaknesses identified the following challenges: (1) Students placed in developmental education are less likely to complete college-level math or writing and, therefore, retain or complete; (2) CGCC does not have a proactive system for identifying and intervening with students at risk of failing or dropping out; (3) Fall-to-spring and fall-to-fall retention rates for low-income and/or first-generation students are low; (4) Tutoring services are not available for courses with high rates of failure and withdrawal; (5) Student learning spaces and instructional technology are inadequate to support increased reliance on remote learning; and (6) Strategic investment is needed to support growth.

**Proposed Activities:** (1) Strengthen the integrated approach of academic programming and support services to support student access and retention; and (2) Facilitate an equitable student experience though the expansion of tutoring/mentoring services, the physical enhancement of teaching, learning, and gathering spaces across campus, the expansion of the HyFlex teaching method, and systematic professional development programming that supports diversity of talent acquisition and teaching strategies.

**Outcomes:** (1) Increased retention rates for low-income and first-generation students; (2) Increased course success rates in college-level Math and Writing for low-income and first-generation students; (3) Increased three-year graduation rates; (4) Increased percentage of first-time, full-time low-income and first-generation students completing First-Year Experience; (5) Increased percentage of first-time, full-time low-income and first-generation students selecting a program pathway by the end of their first semester; (6) Increased percentage of students placed out of developmental education that take college-level math and writing in their first year; (7) Increased percentage of students receiving tutoring and mentoring that remain in good academic standing; and (8) Increased percentage of students taking hybrid courses that express satisfaction with the course modality.

**Funds Requested:** $2,239,850

# **PR Award #:** P031A210176

**Institution Name:** West Virginia University

**Project Title:** Strengthening Potomac State College by Investing in Course Evaluation and Redesign, Academic Advising, Career Services, Diversity Programming, and Endowment Funds

Potomac State College (PSC) of West Virginia University is a public, two-year open-door admission college in rural Keyser, West Virginia. PSC offers fifty-six (56) rigorous A.A. transfer and A.A.S. career and technical programs that fast track students for competitive jobs, and six (6) Baccalaureate degree programs. Our annual enrollment is approximately 1300 full and part-time students. Most students matriculate from West Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. PSC is a campus within the West Virginia University (WVU) system and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).

PSC faces many challenges that have resulted in persistent high attrition and low graduation rates for our students. A Title III Planning Committee was formed and performed an institutional self-assessment using HLC recommendations for PSC, faculty and student input, institutional data, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, and the most recent PSC Strategic Plan to craft the Comprehensive Development Plan for this proposal.

The Planning Committee determined that PSC must 1) address its need to assess academic programs and courses and train faculty in cutting-edge teaching pedagogies to decrease the number of introductory courses with high D/F/W failure rates; 2) transition away from a decentralized advising model for first-time full-time undeclared major students to a centralized and proactive advising model; 3) provide intentional career counseling to improve student outcomes; 4) provide diversity services to assist in creating a sustainable, inclusive environment focused on recruitment and retention of minority and majority students; and 5) address students’ lack of financial resources, a major reason they leave PSC. Five strategic priorities to address these problems were identified, including adding a Career Services position, an Assessment Director, a Diversity Specialist, two Advisors, revamping academic advising and career services for undeclared students, and using Title III Grant monies to create an endowment.

The proposed Title III project adopts these recommendations to increase the academic success of low-income, rural students attending PSC. All program costs will be assumed by PSC by end of year five, thereby improving student persistence, retention and graduation. As a result, PSC will become self-sufficient and expand its capacity to serve West Virginia’s low-income rural students.

**Goals, Activities, and Outcomes include:** Increasing retention from 45.5% to 60.5% and 3-year graduation rates of 1st-year students from 22.1% to 31.1% by (1) Assessing and redesigning the 1st-year courses with high D/F/W rates and reducing the number of these courses by 22% and by teaching faculty pedagogical best practices to address student learning needs and improve course quality; (2) Implementing a centralized, proactive, comprehensive advising and career services model to increase the percentage of students declaring a major from 14.5% to 29.5%, earning at least a 2.0 GPA from 42.9% to 57.9%, and earning 30 credits hours during first year from 37% to 52%; (3) Implementing a Diversity program to support minority and majority students by providing faculty training, mentoring students and implementing programs tailored to student needs and interests; (4) The development of Early Intervention Plans in quick response to early alert warnings for 100% of at-risk students and using Endowment monies to retain students who may otherwise withdraw. The final goal is to institutionalize implementations and sustain all implementations post-funding, including the establishment of a scholarship fund for students.

PSC has addressed Competitive Preference Priorities 1 and 2 in this application.

**Funds Requested:** The total request for the five-year budget is $1,756,677.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210177

**Institution Name:** Glenville State College

**Project Title:** Glenville State College SIP Program

Glenville State College (GSC)

GSC offers 22 bachelor’s degrees and two associate degrees. The student to faculty ratio is 15 to 1. Of the 1,583 students enrolled in the Fall 2020, the majority (967) were enrolled on a full-time basis. Approximately 36% of students live in the residence halls, nearly 51% commute, and 14% are students in correctional facilities. Over 47% of students are classified as freshman, 20% as sophomores, 14% as juniors, and 19% as seniors. The institution has 59 full-time faculty, 40 part-time faculty, and 127 staff members.

**Problems**

GSC suffers from significantly low retention rates compared to peer institutions. Graduation rates also significantly lag behind other institutions in West Virginia. These low graduation and retention rates can be attributed in part to the fact that GSC serves a significant number of high-need students who traditionally have not had access to higher education opportunities, including students with low incomes, first-generation college students, and minority students. Over 81% of students receive some form of Federal financial aid. Because of historic and current low levels of higher education across the state, approximately 42% of GSC students are first-generation college students. The student population’s racial composition more diverse than the state’s demographics at 79% Caucasian (92% West Virginia), 13% African American (3.8% West Virginia), 2% Hispanic (1% West Virginia), 1% Asian (.7% West Virginia), and 3% Other (2.5% West Virginia)

**Implementation Strategies**

Create a virtual one-stop shop for student services; Increase coordination among offices; Increase mental health services; Increase resources for wrap around support; Advance platforms designed to enhance student connections, engagement, tutoring, advising, and scheduling; Enhance technology systems; Complete infrastructure renovations and preservation of student spaces.

**Measurable Outcomes:**

1. Increase coordination and integration of student success services across campus.

2. Enhance student success by expanding student engagement tools and upgrading infrastructure.

3. Increase the number of students with work-based learning experiences that align with indemand industry sectors.

4. Increase GSC’s endowment fund.

5. Enhance the college experience through renovation and preservation of student space.

**Competitive Preference Priorities**

GSC is addressing Competitive Preference Priority 1 (Tutoring, Counseling, and Student service Programs) and Competitive Preference Priority 2 (Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills).

# **PR Award #:** P031A210181

**Institution Name:** Dutchess Community College

**Project Title:** The Pathways to Success project will adopt a Guided Pathways framework supported by high impact practices to increase student success.

Dutchess Community College (DCC) is a public two-year institution located 90 miles north of New York City in the Mid-Hudson region of New York State. The College is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system-one of the nation’s largest statewide public higher education systems, and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges. DCC has provided affordable and quality academic programs for Dutchess County residents for 62 years.

Through this Title III grant, DCC will adopt a Guided Pathways framework supported by high impact practices and interconnected strategies. Pathways to Success (P2S), the primary Activity, will address institutional capacity gaps and implement a framework to increase student retention, graduation, and transfer for first-time in college and low-income students.

**DCC’s project design includes the following Measurable Objectives and Performance Outcomes:**

· Objective 1: By September 30, 2026, increase by 30%, the enrollment of students 25 years old or above from 1,112 to 1,450. (Baseline= 1,112, Fall 2020).

· Objective 2: By September 30, 2026, increase the course success (passing) rates in introductory core English by 20% to 71.9% and introductory Math gateway courses by 10% to 61% (Baseline= 51.9% English 101; 51% average in Math 099, 109, 118, 184 in fall 2020-21).

· Objective 3: By September 30, 2026, increase by 12%, the fall-to-fall retention rate of first-time, full-time students to 66.4%. (Baseline= 54.4% fall 2019-20).

· Objective 4: By September 30, 2026, increase by 10%, the rate of first-time full-time students who earn a degree or certificate within three years to 38.9% (Baseline= 28.9%, cohort 2017).

· Objective 5: By September 30, 2026, increase the transfer rate to four-year universities for low-income students by 13.6% to 40% and for African-American students by 14.6% to 30%. (Baseline= 26.4% low-income; 15.4% African-American, fall 2016 cohort).

**The following strategies meet both Competitive Preference Priorities (1 and 2) and are structured around four (4) components:**

(1) Improve Program Mapping and Student Course Selection; (2) Redesign Academic and Career Advising and offer Prior Learning Assessments; (3) Improve Teaching Practices and Pedagogical innovations to Promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Achievement; and (4) Centralize, Expand and Integrate Work-Based/ Applied Learning and Employment Opportunities with Academic and Career Pathways and offer E-Portfolios.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210196

**Institution Name:** Southeast Missouri State University

**Project Title:** A Comprehensive Initiative to Increase Retention and Graduation Rates

**Institutional Profile:** Southeast Missouri State University is a regional comprehensive university, located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, that serves over 10,000 students. The university serves a high percentage of at-risk students: over 50% of the student body are first-generation and over 40% are Pell-eligible.

**Significant Problems:**

1. Completion rates of at-risk populations are much lower than overall student population

2. Retention rates of at-risk populations are much lower than overall student population

3. Support services are not aligned, there is no congruent data collection to assess impact and the number of at-risk students utilizing these services is lower than desired

4. Career engagement and experiential learning opportunities often occur late in academic programs and therefore do not help with early retention

5. Data access for stakeholders and influencers is difficult and disjointed, making it challenging to measure and influence positive change

6. While formal retention programs are in place for some first-year students, SEMO does not have a coordinated effort to promote continuing student persistence to graduation

**Project Goals and Theoretical Background:**

Research demonstrates that support services and intrusive advising, as well as early career experiences, improve retention and completion. This project seeks to expand those services to:

· Increase student retention and completion rates

· Enhance the use of data for decision-making in support of student success

**Project Activities:**

1. Strengthen and align educational support services and academic advising to eliminate inequitable outcomes for students who are first generation, low income, and/or a member of an underrepresented race/ethnicity group

2. Increase student participation in early career engagement, experiential learning, and workbased learning activities to increase retention and completion

3. Enhance the collection and use of data, along with the implementation of predictive analytics and data-driven decision making, to support student success

**Expected Outcomes and Contributions:**

By the end of the five-year project cycle, SEMO expects to:

1. Increase the six-year completion rate for all students to 60%

2. Increase the six-year completion rate of low-income, first-generation students to 54%

3. Increase the retention rate for FTFT freshmen to 80%

4. Increase the retention rate of first gen, low-income students to 80%

5. Offer early experiential, career-based learning opportunities in 80% of academic programs

6. Offer internship, practicum, field experience or similar experiential opportunities in 100% of programs

7. Establish a fully implemented data warehouse and data standards

# **PR Award #:** P031A210202

**Institution Name:** Southeastern Illinois College

**Project Title:** Succeed and Complete Title III Project

Southeastern Illinois College (SIC) is a two-year, public community college located in Harrisburg, Illinois (pop. 9,344). The college serves Gallatin, Hardin, Pope, and Saline counties, as well as portions of an additional four counties in an overwhelmingly rural region of “downstate Illinois.” Extreme disadvantage is a distinguishing characteristic of our 2,370 square mile service area: 19.3% of residents and 37.1% of families live in poverty, compared to the state’s 11.5% and 25.3% respectively. Just 12.1% of area adults (ages 25 and up) have completed bachelor’s degrees, compared to the state rate of 35.8%. Associate’s degree completion of 21.3% for service area adults also lags behind Illinois’ 44% rate.

SIC’s students reflect the service area: Of students enrolled in fall 2020, 72% were first generation in college, and 74% are low-income and received some form of financial assistance. Of first-time students, 76.2% were academically underprepared, with 40.2% testing at the developmental level in math, reading, and writing. Poor academic preparation impacts developmental- and college-level course success: up to 67.3% of students enrolled in key developmental courses in 2019-2020 failed to earn grades of “C” or above; failure in core college-level general education courses was as high as 64.3% over the same period. Because federal regulations limit the number of semesters for which students may receive financial aid, failure to make timely progress from developmental to college-level courses can spell the end of college for low-income students who most need to complete degrees leading to greater economic stability. Contributing weaknesses include limited faculty capacity for infusion of active instructional strategies associated with academic success. Also contributing to poor persistence and completion are inadequately-resourced academic support services, facility limitations, and reliance on outdated, reactive student services. Hamstrung by cumbersome, paper-based processes, SIC advisors and other service providers cannot provide the level or types of support and guidance students need to succeed, persist, and graduate.

SIC proposes to address these problems and weaknesses though Succeed and Complete, an activity to promote success, persistence, and graduation among our predominantly underprepared students. We will infuse key developmental- and college-level curricula with active learning strategies (problem-based, collaborative, experiential learning) promoting engagement and success. New, comprehensive services designed to respond to students’ academic as well as nonacademic challenges will be supported with a new 2,238 sq. ft. area within the Learning Commons to house a designated Writing Center and Math Lab, as well as space for tutoring, collaboration, individual study, and academic coaching. An Academic Success Coach will develop and deliver customize support for underprepared students at particular risk for failure, and SIC’s professional advisors will be trained in coaching strategies for use in proactive advising. Foundational to all initiatives will be strategies and new resources for employing current, actionable student data. We will train advisors in use of SIC’s Jenzabar advising module for proactive advising, and we will implement a new Jenzabar Retention Module, Early Alert software, and Predictive Modeling software to revise Early Alert/Progress Tracking and Degree Audit and to develop student dashboards allowing access to real-time, actionable student data. A redesign of the MySIC mobile portal will ensure anytime/anyplace access to data-driven services.

SIC’s proposed Title III project responds to both Competitive Preference Priorities for the 2021 competition: 1) Tutoring, Counseling, and Student Service Programs; and 2) Fostering, Flexible, and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills.

Year 1 Budget Request: $449,882; Five Year Budget Request: $2,249,259

# **PR Award #:** P031A210206

**Institution Name:** Bates Technical College

**Project Title:** Expanding Online and Competency-Based Curriculum, Student Retention and Completion and a Culture of Data-Informed Decision-Making

**Contact Person for the Title III Proposal**: Dr. Lin Zhou, President, Bates Technical College, 1101 S. Yakima, Tacoma, WA 98405; 253.680.7100, lzhou@batestech.edu.

**Population Served:** Bates Technical College (Bates) is a two-year college located in Tacoma, Washington, 35 miles south of Seattle. As part of the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), Bates delivers practical and concentrated career education with a focus on hands-on learning. Serving approximately 7,000 students, Bates has three comprehensive urban campuses in Tacoma that offer two-year degrees, short-term certificates, academic courses, a Technical High School, and life-long learning. Tacoma is a highly diverse city of 213,426 residents located in the south end of Puget Sound in Pierce County, Washington. The per capita income in Tacoma is 17.6% lower than the per capita income in Washington State and 6.4% lower than the per capita income in Pierce County. The percent of persons living in poverty is 35.5% higher in Tacoma than in Washington state, and is 49% higher than in Pierce County overall. Educational attainment in Tacoma compared to Washington State is low with only 28% of Tacoma residents age 25 or older holding a bachelor’s degree compared to the State rate of 35.5% (U.S. Census, 2019).

**Project Goals:** The project focuses on three activities that align with Bates institutional goals:

(1) Expand access to courses and programs in alternate modalities and transition some programs to competency-based curriculum through comprehensive faculty professional development and support; (2) Increase student retention and completion through holistic, intrusive coaching and expanded work-based learning experiences; and (3) Increase institutional research capacity to create a culture of data-informed decision-making and continuous improvement. The project addresses Competitive Preference Priorities One and Two.

**Outcomes:** Nine objectives focus on improving persistence to completion, faculty training to implement competency-based curriculum, transition of courses to competency-based outcomes, the development of new competency-based laddered credentials, improvement of institutional effectiveness, and expansion of work-based learning experiences. In alignment with GPRA performance indicators, the objectives will improve fall-to-fall retention rates, three-year completion rates, and result in a moderate and reasonable cost per successful program outcome.

**Five-Year Project Budget:** $2,250,000.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210209

**Institution Name:** Tidewater Community College

**Project Title:** #Connect2TCC

Founded in 1968, Tidewater Community College (TCC) is one of 23 two-year openenrollment colleges that make up the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) and serves the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, and portions of Suffolk (collectively South Hampton Roads). TCC is the largest provider of higher education and workforce development services in the region, enrolling about 28,000 students annually. Thirty-six percent of South Hampton Roads residents who enroll in higher education enroll at TCC.

In March 2021, TCC launched a new strategic plan, Innovate 2026, that re-directs the college’s goals towards closing achievement gaps and improving retention and completion through a commitment to equity in academic programing, student support, policy, and fiscal management. This effort aligns with the VCCS’ new strategic plan Opportunity 2027 with the singular goal of each VCCS institution achieving “equity in access, learning outcomes, and success for every race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic group.”

TCC’s foundational goal is to improve retention and graduation rates by achieving academic equity through increased services to low-income students. Norfolk and Portsmouth are the two TCC campuses serving the highest majority of low-income students, with 62% and 59% of students receiving financial aid, respectively. Therefore, this project will focus on new low-income students from the Norfolk and Portsmouth public schools.

The project, #Connect2TCC, proposes to address challenges faced by low-income students, then expand best practice into broad scalability across the entire student population. Accompanied by wrap-around support for socio-economically challenged students, TCC will initiate three activities:

1. Implement a College-wide Teaching Faculty Advising System. All full-time teaching faculty will train to be effective advisors and student advocates, and will partner with existing advisory staff to lower the ratio of students to advisors by assuming advisee caseloads.

2. Serve Additional Low-Income Students from Norfolk and Portsmouth. Two-week Boot Camps will deeply engage 100 students from Norfolk and Portsmouth public schools each year, helping them prepare for college entry, assisting with enrollment and financial aid, introducing them to a variety of work-based learning opportunities, and also connecting the students to support services as needed by each individual. Research shows that to achieve equity in low-income student retention and completion, TCC must focus on improving services that help vulnerable and low-income students. These mechanisms include integrating students into the college community socially through relationship building; ensuring students identify clear goals linked to academic plans; developing processes that allow students to develop educational selfadvocacy; and creating processes for students to experience work-based learning.

3. Re-Inventing Tutoring at TCC. Research shows tutoring contributes to student retention and completion, yet TCC lacks a culture where students seek and find effective tutoring. Beginning with a task force to reimagine what tutoring can and should be, TCC will begin to offer expanded tutoring support to students across all programs and pathways, including online, on-demand tutoring available 24/7.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210217

**Institution Name:** Lake Superior State University

**Project Title:** Lake Superior State University, Supported and Integrated Learning (SAIL)

Lake Superior State University (LSSU) is a four year, undergraduate, public university, primarily serving students in the rural region of Northern Michigan. LSSU is the state's smallest public university, with a 2020 enrollment of 1,900 students. In 2020, 66% of LSSU students identified as first-generation, and 59% as low-income; the economic and academic disadvantages experienced by many LSSU students create challenges for retention and completion.

The Supported and Integrated Learning (SAIL) project is designed to address retention and completion rates, strategically working to improve student support services across campus. Student support services will be enriched by connecting campus departments to offer a comprehensive and holistic approach in three comprehensive strategies:

1. connect and coordinate student success services between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs;

2. Expand student support services and campus experiences to encourage student success,

3. Implement a retention focused series of professional development opportunities to equip faculty and staff with the skills to further support retention.

The SAIL project will expand and enhance tutoring options across campus locations through additional peer tutoring and supplemental instruction as well as through a 24/7 virtual tutoring subscription. The project will also increase access to mental health services through the LSSU Counseling Center, expand mental and social emotional health education opportunities, and develop professional development opportunities, each designed to support student retention.

**Project Goals:**

1. Connect and coordinate all student services to create a comprehensive network to support a sense of belonging in order to increase retention and graduation rates.

2. Strengthen first and second year experiences through a greater integration of High Impact Practices and enhanced student services.

3. Enhance professional development opportunities for faculty and staff to provide holistic student support.

Competitive Preferences: The SAIL project will address Competitive Preference Priority 1- Tutoring, Counseling, and Student Service Programs; and Competitive Preference Priority 2- Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtain Knowledge and Skills.

Contact Person: Dr. Gail Essmaker

Vice Provost of Assessment and Accreditation

Phone: (906) 635-2278

Email: gessmaker@lssu.edu

Budget Request: LSSU request $1,677,894, over a five-year project period

# **PR Award #:** P031A210218

**Institution Name:** West Virginia Northern Community College

**Project Title:** Expanding Access to Credentials and Degrees, Improving Student Retention and Completion and Creating a Culture of Data-Informed Decision-Making

**Contact Person for the Title III Proposal:** Dr. Daniel Mosser, President, West Virginia Northern Community College, 1704 Market St., Wheeling, WV 26003; 304.214.8800, dmosser@wvncc.edu.

**Population Served:** West Virginia Northern Community College (WVNCC) is a small, public, multi-campus (main campus is in Wheeling, WV)) comprehensive community college which serves the five counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel in the Upper Ohio Valley region of West Virginia where the State intersects with Ohio and Pennsylvania. WVNCC offers a wide variety of programs and courses in the liberal arts and sciences, career-technical education, work-place training, developmental studies, and community and continuing education. WVNCC has 34 undergraduate fields of study. The top field for certificates and degrees awarded is Health Sciences. In Fall 2020, the College enrolled 1,253 students across its campuses in Wheeling, Weirton, and New Martinsville. Historically, the economic mainstay of West Virginia was coal mining and the tri-state region of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia were referred to as “coal country” and “steel country.” These jobs paid a living wage, were plentiful, and did not require a postsecondary education. Today, residents of the WV Panhandle, where WVNCC is located, must be prepared with education and skills for a different type of economy, one that requires a higher education mindset. Only 55% of West Virginia high school graduates go to college, compared to 67% in the nation. (West Virginia Economic Outlook, 2020-2024).

**Project Goals:** The project will (1) provide ongoing professional development for faculty and expand online courses and short-term credentials, (2) improve student retention through success coaching, (3) support a growing culture of data-informed decision-making and (4) expand participation in work-based learning experiences. The project addresses Competitive Preference Priorities One and Two.

**Outcomes:** Eight objectives focus on improvement of persistence to completion, faculty training to implement online and laddered curriculum, improvement student engagement and support from application to completion, improvement of institutional effectiveness, and expansion of work-based learning experiences. In alignment with GPRA performance indicators, the objectives will improve fall-to-fall retention rates, three-year completion rates, and result in a moderate and reasonable cost per successful program outcome.

**Five-Year Project Budget:** $2,250,000.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210219

**Institution Name:** Umpqua Community College

**Project Title:** Success at UCC: Elevating Educational Development (SUCCEED)

Title III funding will give Umpqua Community College (UCC) the ability to build upon a Guided Pathways model to bolster student retention and graduation. SUCCEED will optimize the college’s potential, faculty commitment, and existing Guided Pathway structures to undertake the following:

1. Construct a Teaching and Learning Hub to facilitate improvements in teaching, instruction, and assessment;

2. Designate a new technology support desk specifically for student technical and media assistance;

3. Provide multiple modes of tutoring in the Hub, which will be integrated with course redesign;

4. Redesign 10-15 general education courses to address high DFW rates;

5. Implement early alert and intervention systems; and

6. Create a new faculty professional learning community within the Hub to innovate instructional practices.

SUCCEED will allow UCC to improve the following for first-time full-time degreeseeking undergraduate students: retention from 45.9% to 56%, graduation from 28% to 36%, increased enrollment by 10%. Other objectives include increased retention for part-time degreeseeking students from 34.5% to 45%, increased student participation in credit-based FYE from 25% to 80%, increase in students preparing career plans from 25% to 80%, increased student satisfaction, increase in academic early referrals by 6%, reduced percentage of students on academic notification from 15.5% to 10%, and FTE recovery from increased retention. The table below provides a summary of UCC’s key demographic statistics. All components and objectives will be integrated with UCC’s ongoing work in its Guided Pathways model.

This project responds to Competitive Preference Priorities 1 & 2. 

The annual budget is $450,000.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210220

**Institution Name:** Central Carolina Community College

**Project Title:** CCCC NAVIGATE: Transforming Student Onboarding and Advising through Academic Customer Service and Process Improvement (NAVIGATE)

**Institutional Profile:** Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) is a fully-accredited, public, two-year institution of higher education in the state-supported North Carolina Community College System. The College is located 35 miles south of the Research Triangle Park and state capital of Raleigh. In 2018-2019, CCCC served approximately 6,500 curriculum students in over 150 degree, diploma, and certificate programs. CCCC has a 16:1 student-to-faculty ratio, employing approximately 158 full-time and 185 part-time faculty members.

**Student Demographics:** The Central Carolina Community College student body is 63% female, 57% White, 18% Black, and 16% Hispanic. 64% of students are part-time students, and 70% are age 24 or under. 64% of students enroll in at least one distance education course. The IPEDS summary report graduation rates of first-time, full-time students as 25%, and approximately 55% of students receive Pell grants.

**Project Overview:** Central Carolina Community College (CCCC), the largest rural-serving 2-year institution in North Carolina, has invested the last decade working toward reducing barriers to student access. Despite leading several state-wide student success initiatives, CCCC’s lack of communication and outdated practices leave students frustrated and lost in the onboarding process. This T-III investment will reform student onboarding and advising, improve academic customer service, and modernize processes—for the ultimate goal of ensuring ALL students have meaningful access to higher education.

**Project Goals:**

1. To realize gains in curriculum enrollment, retention, and completion by creating a split advising model. (Academic Programs)

2. To improve organizational communication and efficiency by addressing technology and process barriers. (Institutional Management)

3. To maintain and enhance a strong financial foundation by creating a student support endowment. (Fiscal Stability)

**Expected Outcomes Overview**

· Increased enrollment, retention, and graduation from improved communication and processes. Specifically, CCCC looks to decrease the students who are admitted and do not enroll or who drop out prior to the census date; to decrease the number of students who change programs after their second semester; to increase unduplicated credential earners; and increase opportunities for participation in WBL.

· Decrease barriers to student success in onboarding and advising practices; and increase satisfaction from students and faculty/staff around onboarding and advising practices.

· Increase the underfunded CCCC endowment by $140,000 to support emergency aid for students.

**Funds Requested:** $2,130,382.45

**Competitive Preference Priorities:** NAVIGATE’s activities and goals are aligned with both of the Department’s Competitive Preference Priorities: (1) Tutoring, Counseling, and Student Service Programs and (2) Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210226

**Institution Name:** Wallace State Community College - Hanceville

**Project Title:** Pathways Linking U to Success (PLUS)

Wallace State Community College, Hanceville, Alabama (WSCC) is a public, comprehensive, two-year college that serves four rural counties in north central Alabama including Cullman and Blount County and portions of Winston, and Morgan counties. The main campus and additional instructional sites serve nearly 175,000 people in a rural service area that spans 1,600 square miles.

WSCC’s Fall 2020 enrollment was 4,698 as described in Table 1. More than half of the College’s first-time freshmen are academically underprepared, economically disadvantaged, and/or first-generation college students. Institutional and published data suggests that these students are most likely to drop-out, stopout, or fail resulting in low retention, graduation, transfer, and employment rates.

This Title III project’s goal is to enhance student success. The resulting project, Pathways Linking U to Success (PLUS) is an integration of interventions from What Works Clearing House’s InsideTrack Coaching and Single Stop USA’s Community College Initiative, Achieving the Dream’s Holistic Student Supports, and Complete College America’s Pathways to Success. It includes shifting the frontline success advising, and financial aid staff from a transactional relationship with students to that of a case management approach, expanding Success Advising to include the intervention elements recommended in the What Works Clearing Houses’ InsideTrack Coaching throughout the student lifecycle, implementing Achieving the Dream’s Holistic Student Supports Redesign, by revising student onboarding to include success predictors as advised by the College & Career Readiness Success Center, and updating both adjunct and full-time faculty professional development to better support student success.

Project PLUS’s success will be determined by steady improvements in each of the following student success milestones: Fall-to-fall retention, successful completion of 30 or more semester credit hours, and degree/certificate completion within 150% of time frame.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210230

**Institution Name:** Arkansas State University Mountain Home

**Project Title:** Advising, Careers, Technology, Innovation, and Virtual Augmentation for Transformational Education (ACTIVATE)

**Project Overview**. With Title III, Arkansas State University Mountain Home (ASUMH)) will undertake a comprehensive approach to improving student retention and graduation. Specifically, the Title III project will embark on the following components:

1. Enhanced virtual educational environment

2. Online instructional innovation

3. Student support platform

4. Improved student services, onboarding, and advising

5. Augmented career services support

6. Faculty professional learning community to expand online options and services

Through this project, ASUMH will improve outcomes for first-time full-time degree-seeking students, including increased retention, graduation and increased enrollment. Other objectives include increased retention for part-time degree-seeking students, increase student satisfaction, and recover costs from increased retention. The table below provides a summary of ASUMH’s key demographic statistics.

This project responds to both Competitive Preference Priorities 1 and 2. The five-year budget totals $2,228,699.

# **PR Award #:** P031A210232

**Institution Name:** Minnesota State Colleges & Universities – South Central College

**Project Title:** Equity-informed guided pathways for Adult Learners

**Overview of South-Central College:** South Central College (SCC) is one of the 30 two-year comprehensive technical and community colleges within the Minnesota State Colleges and University system. In 2005, 60 years after the college was founded, SCC expanded its mission as a technical college-only to that of a comprehensive community and technical college. SCC had historically supported the technical local labor force needs of the Healthcare, Manufacturing and Agriculture industries. SCC’s Allied Health programs have strong ties to the local Mayo Clinic and the college is a USDA-certified Agriculture Center of Excellence. Today, SCC is a critical access point to higher education for regional adults seeking to better their economic situation.

SCC serves a unique, non-traditional student population of about 4,187 students. 50% of SCC students are adult learners with some amount of gap years between high school and college. 95% of SCC students are employed in full or part-time work, as well as play significant roles at home. Only 52% of students attend as full-time students and 21% are students of color. The work and life demand of SCC’s student population combine with more traditional indicators of underrepresentation such as low income and first generation status to create significant barriers to successfully completing their SCC degree.

**Proposed Strengthening Institutions Project:** The five-year Strengthening Institutions Program project targets the identified needs of South Central College to strengthen academic programs, institutional management and fiscal stability. A comprehensive analysis led to a project that addresses SCC’s struggle to adequately support its population of adult learners, particularly between the point of admission through the first year. The college cannot exist as a regionally serving, workforce-critical institution of higher education if it can’t better serve and retain local adult learners. Institutional weaknesses that currently plague the institution include (1) no infrastructure to properly track adult learner admits and communicate with those admits in equity-informed ways prior to enrollment; (2) lack of pre-college activities to prepare adult learner admits for success in their first term, (3) an outdated transactional advising model, and (4) lack of career-oriented guided pathways that quickly lead to a degree and a job.

**Goal:** Institutionalize strategies that will increase enrollment, persistence and retention of adult learners (age 21+) from admittance and through their first year at SCC

**Objectives**:

1. Increase the enrollment rate of adult learners admitted to SCC from 56% (FY18-20 baseline) to 70% by September 2026

2. Increase the first term to second term persistence of adult learners from 76% (FY18-20 baseline) to 85% by September 2026

3. Increase the first-year retention of adult learners from 66% (FY18-20 baseline) to 75% by September 2026

**Competitive Preference Priorities:** The project will address both CPP1: Tutoring, Counseling, and Student Service Programs; and CPP2: Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills