Armstrong State University-[node:field-date:custom:Y]-Other/Undefined

High Impact Strategy

Workshops, programming, and community outreach regarding college readiness and financial options/incentives, targeted to adult, military, first-year and historically underrepresented students.

Goal

5. Improve college access for students who are non-traditional, military, first-generation, and/or from historically underrepresented groups.

Summary of Activities

Armstrong eliminated all non-course fees for active-duty military, expanded course offerings at the Liberty Center and increased our offering of evening, flex-term and hybrid classes for adult/military students. A military education coordinator recruits and provides assistance to veteran and military students. We have significant outside partnerships with Fort Stewart, Hunter Army Airfield, and the Community College of the Air Force. We hold adult information sessions and adult one-day registration sessions. The Office of Hispanic Outreach and Retention held 25 sessions in the community to address Hispanic student questions and concerns about college. A Hispanic Outreach and Retention Coordinator recruits and coaches Hispanic and Latino students. Financial Aid conducts financial workshops each year in the neighboring counties. Our academic advising office hosted 20 community visits in the local six-county region to recruit for dual enrollment programs. Our “Tickets for Success” program, run by our advisors, provides information on study skills, financial aid, impacts of SAP and course withdrawals and other necessary success information to current students. We have a full-time First Year Experience (FYE) director, who works to implement our QEP, “First Class”, which provides first-year students with education on campus resources and information literacy competency. Peer mentors have been added to numerous FYE courses to assist the faculty and students. Our Office of Multicultural Affairs provides a USG-funded mentoring program for African American males (MOVE), African American females and Hispanic males.

Baseline Status

Over the last three years, the average graduation rates of each group targeted with this strategy (military, African-American, Hispanic, multi-racial, non-traditional learners and traditional freshmen) have fluctuated widely without showing a definite trend upward. Each group has a graduation rate that averages from 30.2-34.8% (Table 3).

Interim Measure of Progress

Progress would be evident in a dampening of the major fluctuations of this data, such that a trend upward for a number of years would be recognized.

Measure of Success

Measurable and consistent increases of at least 0.5% per year in the adult, military, Hispanic, African American, and non-traditional student enrollment, retention and graduation rates would be an indicator of our success.

Lessons Learned

Resources targeted to improving student retention and graduation are not one-size-fits-all. Consistent resources and time must be dedicated to the specific needs of each population.