the overarching grant program goals by including three or more of the following objectives: Objective 1: Develop new and/or improve existing outreach strategies to inform and encourage near-completers to re-enroll in college. Objective 2: Enhance student support systems to include academic, financial, and/or social advising and supports that facilitate smooth reentry into the educational environment and retention through degree completion. Objective 3: Increase re-enrollment of near-completers by offering a track/plan of study which will increase the speed of completion. Objective 4: Establish and implement prior learning assessments or competency based testing to award college credit for returning adult learners. Objective 5: Develop a general studies or other type of associate or bachelor’s degree program for which students who have accumulated a high number of credits (45 or 75 credits for an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree respectively), but not necessarily the correct credits for the originally intended degree program may qualify. Objective 6: Increase re-enrollment rates of near-completers by offering new campus- based sustainable financial aid options using campus or other financial aid resources for support such as text book cost waivers and/or tuition discounts. Process for Identifying One Step Away Students A multi-step process to identify, contact, re-enroll and ultimately graduate was established based on best practices and research on the work described above. Campuses should use the steps below, which have been adapted for Maryland’s One Step Away initiative, to identify and contact institutional data systems, select students who earned 75% or more of the credits needed for their associate (generally 45 credits or more) or bachelor’s degree (generally 90 credits or more), have not been enrolled in the last 12 consecutive months, are in good academic standing (i.e. hold the minimum grade point average required for graduation), and who have not received an associate or bachelor’s degree. The resulting list may include both degree-eligible and degree-potential students. Institutions are encouraged to specifically target who may be able to complete and be included in the reported six-year graduation rates (e.g. initial enrollment in 2009-2010 academic or later). However, institutions may also include near-completers from earlier cohorts, as long as the graduation cohort” is included in outreach and recruitment “six-year efforts.
the overarching grant program goals by including three or more of the following objectives: Objective 1: Develop new and/or improve existing outreach strategies to inform and encourage near-completers to re-enroll in college. Objective 2: Enhance student support systems to include academic, financial, and/or social advising and supports that facilitate smooth reentry into the educational environment and retention through degree completion. Objective 3: Increase re-enrollment of near-completers by offering a track/plan of study which will increase the speed of completion. Objective 4: Establish and implement prior learning assessments or competency based testing to award college credit for returning adult learners. Objective 5: Develop a general studies or other type of associate or bachelor’s degree program for which students who have accumulated a high number of credits (45 or 75 credits for an associate’s or a bachelor’s degree respectively), but not necessarily the correct credits for the originally intended degree program may qualify. Objective 6: Increase re-enrollment rates of near-completers by offering new campus- based sustainable financial aid options using campus or other financial aid resources for support such as text book cost waivers and/or tuition discounts. Process for Identifying One Step Away Students A multi-step process to identify, contact, re-enroll and ultimately graduate was established based on best practices and research on the work described above. Campuses should use the steps below, which have been adapted for Maryland’s One Step Away initiative, to identify and contact institutional data systems, select students who earned 75% or more of the credits needed for their associate (generally 45 credits or more) or bachelor’s degree (generally 90 credits or more), have not been enrolled in the last 12 consecutive months, are in good academic standing (i.e. hold the minimum grade point average required for graduation), and who have not received an associate or bachelor’s degree. The resulting list may include both degree-eligible and degree-potential students. Institutions are encouraged to specifically target who may be able to complete and be included in the reported six-year graduation rates (e.g. initial enrollment in 2009-2010 academic or later). However, institutions may also include near-completers from earlier cohorts, as long as the “six-year graduation cohort” is included in outreach and recruitment efforts.
OSA_RFP_FY_%202014.docx