Complete College America grant to support student attainment at IU regional campuses
A $1 million innovation grant to the state of Indiana will provide Indiana University regional campuses with funding for course mapping software, intensive student advising and other strategies that support student success.
The grant, from Complete College America (CCA), a national nonprofit organization that works with states on policies to boost college completion, was announced July 26 by Gov. Mitch Daniels, CCA President Stan Jones, state higher education commissioner Teresa Lubbers and other officials.
"This grant provides invaluable support for implementing Indiana University's Blueprint for Student Attainment, which emphasizes improved degree completion for the regional campuses," said John Applegate, IU executive vice president for university regional affairs, planning and policy. "We are grateful to Gov. Daniels, Complete College America, Commissioner Lubbers and the staff of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for their support of these important efforts to raise the state's college completion levels."
Gov. Mitch Daniels annnounces a Complete College America grant with (from left) Ivy Tech President Tom Snyder, CCA President Stan Jones, Indiana Higher Education Commissioner Teresa Lubbers and Indiana University Executive Vice President John Applegate.
Complete College America invited governors from all 50 states to submit proposals to win one of ten $1 million, 18-month implementation grants for innovative, high-impact college completion initiatives designed to enhance student success and close attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations. Funding was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Indiana's proposal, developed by the Commission for Higher Education and dubbed "Smarter Choices, Faster Completion," centers on two key strategies: creating highly structured strategies to bolster degree completion at Indiana University regional campuses and redesigning the delivery of remedial coursework at Ivy Tech Community College.
The grant will include $250,000 for IU regional campuses, which will implement robust interventions that include clear "smart choices" degree maps and advising to support on-time completion, block scheduling, summer coursework and cohort-based enrollment opportunities that allow students to move through their academic programs as a group for better support.
The approach reflects the fact that Indiana's college students are an increasingly diverse group, many of whom hold jobs, commute to campus and often struggle to balance their classes with family and work responsibilities. It supports Indiana University's Blueprint for Student Attainment, presented by Applegate last month to the IU Board of Trustees, which builds on the priorities of collaboration, engagement and excellence for IU regional campuses.
Regional campuses educate about one-third of Indiana University students, many of them the first in their families to attend college. Eighty percent of IU regional campus graduates live and work in the regions where they attended college.
