The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has awarded Cleveland State Community College a Tennessee Promise Forward Grant totaling approximately $150,000.
CSCC was one of five community colleges in the state to receive the grant that will assist in focusing on student success and retention. Through the grants, community colleges will develop and expand academic and advising programs to enable more Tennesseans to complete a post-secondary credential through the Tennessee Promise scholarship.
Dr. Michael Stokes, vice president for Student Services, said, “We are excited to be one of only five community colleges across the state to receive this grant from THEC. These funds will allow us to continue to increase the amount and types of support that we offer to Tennessee Promise students in our area. This project further demonstrates the commitment that we at Cleveland State are making to invest in our students to ensure their success.”
“Since its launch in 2015, the focus of Tennessee Promise has been increasing the number of students enrolling in college,” said Mike Krause, executive director of THEC. “Tennessee Promise Forward grants represent the next step: ensuring that once students get into college, they have the resources and tools to graduate. We saw impressive results with the first round of the grant; we look forward to seeing even more this year.”
The Tennessee Promise Forward grant program began in 2015 with the goal of retaining Tennessee Promise students at community colleges. The program was initially funded through a College Access Challenge Grant from the U.S. Department of Education and received a non-recurring allocation in the 2016-17 State budget due to promising results from its first year.
Results from the 2015-16 grants demonstrated encouraging results, officials said. Cleveland State Community College, one of three institutions that received funding in the first year, saw student retention increase by nine percentage points through their case management approach to student advising. Their work with first-year seminars for incoming students yielded an increase from 31% to 60% of students completing college level writing.
The college plans to utilize funds from the 2016-2018 Tennessee Promise Forward Grant to provide early interventions and to add academic assistance to its proactive advising program. By expanding the number of success coaches available to the Tennessee Promise students, adding a position to coordinate all institutional activities related to the Tennessee Promise at Cleveland State and introducing a centralized Academic Assistance Center focused on providing proactive support, they can establish earlier connections with Tennessee Promise students and create a system of academic support that ensures that all students receive timely and appropriate assistance. This will ensure higher percentages of second and third cohorts of Tennessee Promise students persist and complete their degrees.
The Tennessee Promise Forward grant has awarded grants to community colleges this year; grant amounts range between $144,000 and $160,000 based on the amount requested by the institution. Participating community colleges anticipate serving nearly all Tennessee Promise students at their respective institutions during the 2016-17 academic year. Institutions were chosen through a competitive application process and the funded programs include three previously funded institutions and two institutions who received Tennessee Promise Forward funding for the first time. The Tennessee Promise Forward grants are administered by THEC.