CHAMBERSBURG – Over the next five years, Wilson College will receive $2.25 million in federal funds to help first-time college students and those re-entering college, as well as under-achieving students, college officials announced. The funds also will help all students at Wilson, they added.
The funds were awarded by the U.S. Department of Education as part of the government’s Title III Strengthening Institutions Program. The funds will provide an annual boost of approximately $450,000 to the college budget each year to support student success initiatives based on the college’s grant proposal “Phoenix Paths to Student Achievement.”
“The additional funding that the Title III grant provides will allow Wilson to create and develop critical initiatives above and beyond what we already provide,” said Wilson President Wesley R. Fugate. “This will help our students become more successful academically as well as better prepare them for their professional futures.”
The Wilson College Title III Project focuses on two primary objectives:
1) to develop and implement strategies for increasing and tracking first-time college students, as well as re-enrolled and under-prepared students, through strengthening academic support programs and services;
2) to improve institutional support for all students by strengthening academic technology infrastructure and increasing support strategies through intrusive academic advising, expanded library services, database access, improved technology and spaces for tutoring and test-taking.
“After conducting a two-year self-study, we discovered we needed to develop a consistent way to retain students who were not following a linear path in pursuing their degree,” said Dr. Elissa Heil, provost and vice president of academic affairs. “Our goal, with this grant, is to engage with our students earlier and more cohesively in their academic careers in order to provide support and services they need to achieve their long-term goals.”
The federal program is designed to help eligible college,become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to strengthen the institution’s academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability, Wilson officials noted.
