News at 4Cs
Cape Cod CC Awarded $2.25 Million in Title III Funds to Support Retention, Equity, and Student Success
October 6, 2023Cape Cod Community College has been awarded a $2.25 million Title III grant to improve equity, retention, and student success by expanding student support services and technology. Granted by the US Department of Education, the funds will be distributed at roughly $450,000 per year over five years. Title III funds like this are granted to institutions that serve a high number of students with high economic need.
“This award recognizes the College’s commitment to student success and is an investment in our students and our community,” said Dr. John Cox, President of Cape Cod Community College. “This investment will enable expanding our HyFlex programming, which increases access to college classes by use of state-of-the-art online learning technology. We’ll also be dramatically expanding student support services to include a more career advising and a virtual one stop center. Our goal is to increase opportunities for all students to succeed - from onboarding to the classroom, to graduation, and beyond.”
Called “Project POWERS: Powering Work-Teams for Equity, Retention, and Success,” the College’s Title III initiative will focus on several performance outcomes including increased enrollment and success rates in HyFlex and Online classes, increased retention for first-time students, increased percentages of low-income and part-time students that complete their degrees and/or certificates and decreasing the amount of time it takes to earn those credentials.
Specific improvements and expansions in services and academic supports at the College include:
- Creation and hired staff for a Virtual “One-Stop” Center for Enrollment Services.
- Expanded advising services for students with funding for faculty and staff that supports professional development, technology, and case management
- Expanded classroom capacity to offer HyFlex/Online courses and Interactive learning classrooms.
- Enhanced career preparation for students in and out of the classroom.
- Increased Technology Peer Mentors for students.
- Expanded career services to increase equitable job placement and internships.
- Improved systems to collect student post-enrollment and career data.
- Increased use of “early warning systems” to provide timely interventions to all students who need support in reaching their goals.
“This is a game changer for the future of our College and we are thrilled that we are the beneficiaries of this funding,” said Dr. Kathleen Vranos, Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Cape Cod Community College. “We are ready to hit the ground running. We have strategies in place to begin using the Title III funding to make an immediate, positive impact on our College community and for our students. The future is very bright because of this investment in 4Cs.”
The U.S. Department of Education’s Title III Program is a highly competitive grant program intended to allow public colleges and universities to make major advances, large leaps forward in curriculum, program delivery, institutional management, and fiscal stability that would not be possible using only their own funds.
Funds will be provided to the College in roughly $450,000 increments over a 5-year period. Cape Cod Community College will also allocate existing resources to support the proposed interventions coming via the grant, including in-kind personnel time, office equipment, and IT support. Strict monitoring, reporting, and compliance requirements are in place, and the College will be in regular contact with the Department of Education throughout the entire process.
###