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| Contact: (e-mail or call) Thomas Dowling 863-297-1051 |
PCC Receives $760,000 U.S. Grant
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Polk Community College has received a $760,000 grant from the federal government to establish a retention program. The four-year grant is known as the Trio Student Support Services Grant. This will be the third leg in a "trio" of federal supported programs. The other grant programs, Talent Search and Upward Bound, assist Polk County high school students to graduate and enter college. This program will help PCC students stay in college. In 1965, Congress established the Trio Programs (initially just three programs) to help low-income Americans enter college, graduate and move on to participate more fully in America's economic and social life. Where financial aid helps students overcome financial barriers, Trio programs help students overcome class, social and cultural barriers. The new Trio program will assist some 160 students who are special needs, low income and/or first generation college students. PCC President J. Larry Durrence was pleased that the college received this grant. "By enabling Polk Community College to provide additional support and assistance to students who face many challenges in trying to complete college, this grant will both enhance the lives of these students and in turn benefit Polk County," he said. The program, known as Student Support Services (SSS), is targeted at individuals whose parents have not earned a bachelor's degree. The first year's budget for the four-year program is $190,000. For these 160 SSS students, PCC will implement a retention program that will include:
The grant will fund three new positions - a director, counselor and a staff assistant. They will work on improving the retention rate from 50% to 59% for students in the SSS program. With tutoring, mentoring and counseling being key components of the program the counselor will play an important role. Historically, students eligible for this program have had lower retention rates, grade point averages and transfer rates than the rest of the student population. Despite this, "many disadvantaged students appear to have one critical characteristic in their favor- a strong desire to succeed," says the grant. "When they enter classes, both hopeful for success and fearful of failure, they are extremely motivated. In their cultural context, they have taken tremendous risks and made severe sacrifices to enter school," the grant application continues. "They realize that their futures are limited in their present circumstances. It is logical to conclude that when given personnel; reinforcement, academic success experiences and faculties to meet their needs, the academic achievement, retention, graduation and transfer rates of the selected cohort could equal that of the remainder of the student population." The SSS program will be open to both current students and new PCC students. When students enter the program they will take a series of assessment tests, such as Myers Briggs, that will help them explore their educational and career options. They will be exposed to resources about colleges and universities that will help them focus their goals to transfer to a university. As part of the early warning component, systems will be established to flag students that are in jeopardy or struggling. The counselor will be notified and those students will be interviewed. The summer school program will be held for a half day for five to six weeks. It will be a combination of instruction and tutoring. All students entering PCC take the college placement test. Students who don't meet standards must take college preparatory courses. The summer program for SSS students will provide them with accelerated preparatory classes that will allow them to complete this requirement during the summer. PCC joins 796 colleges and universities nationwide that offer the Trio SSS program. The success rate of this program is high. Trio college graduates are working in business, industry, government, medicine, law, education, communications, publishing, law enforcement, computer science, engineering and accounting. The SSS program starts this month (September 2001) at PCC. |
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