Scholarships and Support Strategies to Increase Retention and Graduation/Transfer of Students Pursuing Associate Degrees in Natural Science Fields

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This project will contribute to the national need for skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians. It will do so by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Parkland College, a comprehensive community college in east central Illinois. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide scholarships to four annual cohorts of 10 full time students who are pursuing associate degrees in a natural science field. The Scholars will receive scholarship support for up to two years. In addition to providing scholarships, the project will support Scholars’ academic performance through five strategies: faculty mentoring, peer mentoring, summer research opportunities, club participation, and a customized project experience course. About 40% of students at Parkland College are from groups that are not yet equitably represented in STEM. Thus, the project has the potential to contribute to the national need for more STEM professionals, while also increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. At Parkland College, both fall-to-fall retention rate and the graduation/transfer rate for natural science students receiving Pell grants is about 21% lower than their non-Pell peers. The project expects to improve the academic performance of low-income community college students in STEM majors by providing Scholars with a coordinated collection of support initiatives. Specifically, the project intends that the participants will reach a spring-to-fall retention rate of 90%, fall-to-fall retention rate of 85%, and 150%-time graduation/transfer rate of 75%. Additionally, the project will seek to ensure inclusion of students from groups that are not yet equitably represented in STEM. The project will work with an educational researcher to fill a gap in the STEM education research literature by examining the effects that layering multiple strategies has on retention, graduation, and transfer rates. To maximize the intellectual merit of the study, the project team will develop research briefs and presentations for targeted audiences, including academics, administrators, and policymakers. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.