TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Community College announced a multi-million dollar grant to help with student success on Jan. 30.
It is a $3.7 million Postsecondary Student Success Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
The money is for research and will involve 500 students over four years.
TCC will use feedback from those students to improve the first-year student experience and, thus, student retention.
Angela Sivadon, senior vice president and chief academic officer for TCC, said the grant is highly sought after and will help students reach their potential.
"It gives you an opportunity to really think about what you want to do with, you know, maybe a dream, what does that dream look like," Sivadon said. "What would you like to do? Not even like what degree would you like to get, but you know, what job would you like to have? How do you want to make a difference? What problems do you want to solve in the world? And to let them know that the work like this is that, as I said, we can help you reach your goals and help you make a difference in the world as you move forward."
According to TCC, 1-in-3 first-year students are first-generation college students.
Sivadon said the money will allow the college to serve those students better so that they, too, can meet their goals in education.
"It's all of the collectiveness that supports students from a laptop, that's what you know, less than 1000 bucks for us, to internet access to someone they know that they can go to for questions for tutoring support, for whatever it is that comes up for them," Sivadon said. "That is a barrier for them to complete their education; we feel that this grant is going to allow us to support them so that they can do that."
Sivadon said the pandemic exacerbated the view of equity gaps.
"So as we came out of the pandemic, we found that those students were struggling even more because the things that were issues pre-pandemic were even more so post-pandemic," Sivadon said. "And we also know that, you know, mental health became even a larger issue during the pandemic. So it helps keep students even from asking for support. So we hope that by getting this grant and putting the support out there so that they don't have to ask for it we just offer it will make a tremendous difference for them."
According to TCC, this is the largest research grant the institution has ever received, and it is the only Oklahoma school to receive it.
Sivadon said the process of choosing the 500 students to participate in the research is still in the works.
For a look at TCC's project titled "Start Smart: Contextualizing the First Year Experience to Improve Postsecondary Outcomes," visit the Department of Education's website here.
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