Governor Hochul Announces SUNY Campuses Awarded Over $9 Million In Federal Funding to Support Student Success
Title III Grant Funding Helps Campuses Expand Capacity to Serve Low-Income Students on Their Path to a College Degree Title V Grant Funding Enables Hispanic Serving Institutions to Expand Educational Opportunities for Students Governor Kathy Hochul on December 15th, announced the United States Department of Education has awarded four State University of New York campuses over $9 million in Federal funding to support student success toward a college degree. SUNY Oswego, SUNY Erie Community College, and Fulton-Montgomery Community College were awarded Title III Strengthening Institutions Program Grants, and SUNY Westchester Community College a Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program grant. “Access to quality, affordable public higher education has the ability to transform lives and set our young New Yorkers on a path to success,” Governor Hochul said.”Thanks to this important funding from the Department of Education, we continue to make transformational investments across the SUNY system that will break down barriers and increase access to higher education.” As a result of the Governor’s historic investment this year in SUNY through the SUNY Transformation Fund, campuses are expanding wraparound services such as advising, transportation, childcare, and financial assistance. The grants awarded build on this work. SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr. said, “Higher education plays a vital role in providing diverse educational opportunities for all, from community colleges to four-year institutions. The investment from the Title III and V grants will help build on SUNY Oswego, SUNY Erie, Fulton-Montgomery, and Westchester Community College’s ability to increase accessibility to higher education for students from low-income backgrounds. Congratulations to each of the four institutions receiving these grants as they are a testament to the institutions’ unwavering commitment to ensuring an equitable and diverse educational environment.” Colleges across the nation go through rigorous review by the U.S. Department of Education to be considered for these highly sought-after grants. The Strengthening Institutions Program grants provide funds to improve and strengthen an institution’s academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability. Funds may be used for planning, faculty development, establishing endowment funds, administrative management, and the development and enhancement of academic programs. Other projects include the joint use of instructional facilities, construction, maintenance, and student-service programs designed to improve academic success. SUNY Oswego SUNY Oswego will use almost $1.9 million in Title III grant funding for the campus’s “Student Success Equity Project”. The project is designed to further SUNY Oswego’s commitment to engage, retain, and graduate all Oswego students by closing equity gaps in student academic success. In this project, campus will develop and implement evidence-based strategies to build an inclusive community, improve academic achievement, and increase financial accessibility for all students and particularly for first year and underserved students. SUNY Oswego will be targeting student success in the classroom through developing faculty strength in inclusive pedagogies and building an innovative, embedded peer-to-peer tutoring program in entry-level math courses. SUNY Oswego will also be supporting financial accessibility for all students through launching a financial literacy peer mentor program that is responsive to student needs, developing a holistic scholarship strategy that better supports underserved students, and developing a portfolio program for credit for prior learning to shorten the pathway to graduation. SUNY Oswego President Peter O. Nwosu said, “I am thrilled that we are a recipient of this major grant, which will support our access and opportunity mission and enhance the student experience at our institution. Student success is a collective responsibility at SUNY Oswego, and this grant provides the resources needed to further advance the Oswego Promise of transforming lives and igniting new possibilities.”
