WPCC Awarded Title III Grant From The U.S. Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education awarded Western Piedmont Community College $2,041,759 through its Strengthening Institutions Program.
The grant funds will allow Western Piedmont to execute a five-year project designed to increase the retention and completion of degree-seeking students and reduce gaps among underrepresented groups. The grant will address four significant challenges; low progression and completion for adult students, lower success rates in online courses, an advising model that does not meet the needs of students, and the lack of capacity for an endowment campaign.
The project goals are to increase students’ persistence, retention, and degree completion while reducing gaps for Black, Hispanic, and Pell-Eligible students, increase long-term fiscal stability, and provide more flexible financial support to students through building an endowment fund.
“We are extremely grateful and excited to have been awarded the Title III grant. This grant will help WPCC support student success by strengthening the implementation of our new holistic team-based advising model, the creation of a First Year Experience program, and building the financial capacity of WPCC’s Foundation” Project Director, Annette Benedetti said.
To achieve the goals for supporting student services, there are five components. 1) A revised advising model focused on comprehensive, holistic, and individualized support for students 2) Implementation of advising tools – Watermark student retention software enabling, an improved website, and an intake form increasing advisor and coach efficiency 3) a new student-centered orientation and introductory videos 4) a First Year Experience (FYE) College Success course for AAS students that is contextualized to their programs 5) improvements in pedagogy and technology to support online course success.
Grant funds will enable the Western Piedmont Foundation to hire a part-time fundraising assistant, purchase tools to improve fundraising efforts, and provide the foundation’s Executive Director and volunteer Board of Directors with additional training to strengthen the organization’s fiscal capacity.
“We are honored to receive this highly competitive grant. Western Piedmont was one of only six higher education institutions in North Carolina to be awarded a Title III grant in this cycle. I can attest this grant will enable us to grow the foundation and better support the college. One of the most powerful aspects of this grant for our foundation is that every dollar donated to the Foundation’s Legacy Student Aid Fund can be matched by this grant up to $150,000. All donations made to this challenge grant fund will go to directly support Western Piedmont students” Foundation Director, Lisa Miller said.