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39 Colleges and Universities Receive SIP Grants To Serve Low-Income Students
The United States Department of Education has awarded $20.1 million in grants through the Strengthening Institutions Program, a competitive grant designed to help colleges and universities improve their ability to serve lo-income students.
According to ED, the awards this year were broken down into two types of proposals: one focused on college completion, productivity, and post-secondary success, the other on support programs and strategies "for which there is strong or moderate evidence of effectiveness."
To qualify for a SIP grant, the institution must serve a substantial number of students receiving need-based federal student aid and have low per-student expenditures.
Thirty-three colleges and universities received awards in the first category, with first-year awards ranging from $362,000 to $450,000. They included: Allegany Community College in Maryland; Bunker Hill Community College in Massachusetts; Camden County College in New Jersey; Clarendon College in Texas; Coast Community College District/Golden West College in California; College of Southern Maryland; George C. Wallace Community College in Alabama; Green Mountain College in Vermont; Highland Community College in Kansas; Lake Superior State University in Michigan; Lawrence University of Wisconsin; Louisburg College in North Carolina; Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts; Metropolitan Community Colleges-Blue River Community College in Missouri; Metropolitan Community Colleges-Penn Valley in Missouri; Minnesota State Community and Technical College; Northern State University in South Dakota; Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho; Northeast Wisconsin-Technical College; Pierce College in Washington; Rend Lake College in Illinois; Saint Mary of the Woods College in Indiana; St. Petersburg College in Florida; Sinclair Community College in Ohio; Stanly Community College in North Carolina; Tillamook Bay Community College in Oregon; Umpqua Community College in Oregon; University of California, Merced; University of Houston-Clear Lake in Texas; University of Southern Maine; University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Wenatchee Valley College in Washington; and Young Harris College in Georgia.
Six colleges and universities won grants for their proposals for support programs and strategies for low-income students. East Arkansas Community College received a $1.3 million first-year award; Lake-Sumter State College in Florida received $466,419; Lyon College in Arkansas received $639,825. Metropolitan Community College in Missouri received $999,273. Phillips County Community College of the University of Arkansas received $1.1 million. And Western Iowa Tech Community College received about $1.5 million.
"Everyone deserves access to high-quality learning opportunities, from preschool to middle school and all the way through college" said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a prepared statement. "In order to achieve President Obama's goal to lead the world in college graduates by 2020, we must work to ensure that everyone has a chance to enroll and complete postsecondary education. These grants will boost the capacity and quality of programs offered by higher education institutions that serve low-income students as they work to increase completion rates and better prepare their students for success in college, careers and lifetime aspirations."
