An initiative centered on UConn’s regional campuses to build pathways for underserved high schoolers to pursue and complete a college degree has proven so effective that its grant funding has been extended and increased.
UConn’s Center for Access & Postsecondary Success (CAPS) recently was notified that its previous $450,000 grant was being renewed with $100,000 over each of the next two years, bringing the anticipated final investment to $650,000.
The funding comes from the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee, which supports programs that provide access to education, especially those promoting college readiness, access, and success for underserved populations in New England.
The programming is centered on the Hartford, Waterbury, Stamford, and Avery Point campuses, which enroll more than 5,200 undergraduates and draw heavily from high schools in and near their host communities.
Many of those students are the first generation in their families to consider or attend college; come from low-income households and other under-resourced communities; and may face disproportionate barriers to entering, continuing, and completing higher education.
The Balfour-funded CAPS programs at UConn have been so successful that 100% of the high school participants involved in the programs in recent years enrolled in college following graduation from high school. The number of high school students participating in the college access programs also increased.
After their high school graduation, 99% of the first-gen college students who enrolled in UConn’s summer bridge programs across all campuses continued to enroll in the fall term.
Their transitions also were increasingly successful: The number of first-gen students who returned after their first year to become UConn sophomores increased by an average of 21% across the regional campuses.
Tadarrayl Starke, UConn’s vice provost for student success, says the programming aims to engage about 1,500 students across the regional campuses and aligns with UConn’s commitment to accessible and holistic student success.
They include core initiatives that provide academic, financial, and social support, including:
• Continuing and expanding tutoring, advising, leadership development, financial literacy, and counseling to help Connecticut high school students who are potentially first-generation college students to prepare for and enroll in college.
• Easing first-generation/low-income UConn students in their transition to the University.
• Helping students engage in meaningful curricular and co-curricular experiences through First Year Experience seminars and Learning Communities that foster connection and a strong sense of campus community.
• Providing targeted academic support for students in academic difficulty to help them return to good academic standing and persist through graduation.
• Preparing students for life after graduation with programming designed to promote career preparation, graduate school enrollment, and participating in high-impact opportunities.
UConn’s Center for Access & Postsecondary Success (CAPS) is part of the university’s Institute for Student Success, which works through the Office of the Provost to connect resources from across UConn to support students in their academic journey.
