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Meng Introduces Legislation to Improve Graduation Rate At Community Colleges

June 20, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) introduced the Community College Student Success Act to help boost the graduation rate of community college students. Though community colleges enroll almost 40 percent of the undergraduates in the country, only 20 percent of full-time community college students manage to graduate within three years.
Meng's legislation would provide funding to public community colleges across the country to administer the supports struggling students need to succeed. These supports include academic advising, career counseling, and flexible financial assistance tailored to the needs of individual students. The goal of the legislation is to replicate the remarkable success of the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), a program that first began at the City University of New York and that was piloted in Meng's district at Queensborough Community College.
"I'm proud to introduce the Community College Student Success Act to help community colleges around the country develop and implement programs modeled after ASAP to improve degree completion," said Meng. "The ASAP program at Queensborough Community College more than doubled the three-year graduation rate of students completing an associates' degree, and also increased the number of students who went on to complete a bachelor's degree. I want to thank CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken, Queensborough Community College President Dr. Diane B. Call, and all of the professors and staff who helped make the ASAP program such a success. The results of ASAP speak for themselves. Let's encourage our students to aim higher with programs, like ASAP, that are proven to work."
"We have known for some time that ASAP offers unparalleled results, graduating two to three times the number of students in three years," said Chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY), James B. Milliken. "And recent research has verified what we long believed – that the economic impacts of the program far outweigh the public investment. This makes a compelling case for expansion of this transformational program."
"I am proud of Queensborough Community College's long history as a nationally recognized model for student success," said College President Dr. Diane B. Call. "The many benefits that Queensborough and the ASAP program offers its students, including individualized attention, have provided the foundation for each student to achieve their potential. I am grateful to Congresswoman Meng for her continued commitment to higher education."
The ASAP program, when tested at CUNY in 2010, almost doubled the three-year graduation rate of students earning an associates' degree, from 22 percent to 40 percent. More recent data is even more promising, showing an increased graduation rate from 24 percent to 53 percent. ASAP students were also found to transfer to four-year colleges and have overall higher six-year degree attainment rates. And though the program increased annual costs per student, it actually decreased the total cost of producing each graduate. The program also tested positively in Ohio.
Original co-sponsors of the legislation include Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, José Serrano (NY-15), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), and Susan Davis (D-CA). The measure is a part of House Democrats' legislative campaign, Aim Higher, policy solutions to make higher education work for all students and their families.
A fact sheet on the bill prepared by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce can be found here.