Gateway to success: combining financial, academic and psychosocial supports to promote academic success of low-income STEM majors

该项目将有助于对受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的国家需要，通过支持高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，证明在圣母学院的经济需要。圣母学院是一个综合性的，独立的机构，强调文科。在六年的时间里，该项目将资助23名攻读生物学，生物化学，化学和环境科学本科学位的全日制学生。 一年级学生将获得长达四年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过结合财务，学术和课外支持结构来提高STEM领域的保留率和毕业率。支持活动包括整体学术咨询，学术队列模型，职业规划，并在指定的宿舍社区科学为导向的编程。在入门或“入门”科学课程中补充同伴指导旨在提高学习成绩，因为入门课程通常会阻碍STEM领域的持续性。全国低收入大学生的数量正在增加;因此，提高STEM专业的成功率有可能扩大进入STEM领域的机会。该项目旨在增加关于经济支持，指导，职业咨询和入门课程补充指导的作用如何影响低收入学生的保留和毕业的研究。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要STEM学位完成。特别是，有四个具体目标：1）减少财务需求，以使学生专注于学术成功，2）提高网关STEM课程的表现，3）提供强有力的指导和职业规划支持，以及4）培养归属感的校园和社区，同时增加学生的科学身份的专业形成。 众所周知，社会经济因素、入门课程的成绩和社会心理因素会影响低收入家庭学生的持久性。在私立综合性机构中，人们对有针对性的干预措施如何改善低收入学生的经历及其学术坚持性知之甚少。 通过提供奖学金和学术支持，通过强大的编程提供财政支持，预计学生将体验到学术成功和更高的毕业率。 参与该计划预计将提高学生的学术坚持性，减少学生退出网关课程;它还旨在提高整体保留率。该项目有可能促进对留住STEM低收入学生最重要的方案方面的理解。该项目将通过机构数据、年级报告和调查中的定量和定性数据进行评估，这些数据将与焦点小组和访谈中的定性数据进行三角分析。该项目的结果将通过会议演示、出版物和专业发展研讨会提供。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学术成功，保留，转移，毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Marist College. Marist College is a comprehensive, independent institution that emphasizes the liberal arts. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund 23 unique full-time students pursuing undergraduate degrees in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and environmental science. First year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project aims to improve retention and graduation rates in STEM fields by combining financial, academic, and co-curricular support structures. Support activities include holistic academic advising, an academic cohort model, career planning, and science-oriented programming in designated residence hall communities. Supplemental peer instruction in introductory or ‘gateway’ science courses aims to improve academic performance, as gateway courses often present barriers to persistence in STEM fields. The number of low-income college students is increasing nationally; therefore, increasing the success in STEM majors has the potential to broaden entry into STEM fields. This project aims to add to body of research on how the roles of financial support, mentoring, career advising, and supplemental instruction in gateway courses affect the retention and graduation of low-income students. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion among low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. In particular, there are four specific aims: 1) reduce financial need in order to allow students to focus on academic success, 2) improve performance in gateway STEM courses, 3) provide strong mentoring and career planning support, and 4) foster a sense of belonging to both the campus and community while adding to the professional formation of students’ science identities. Socioeconomic factors, performance in gateway courses, and psychosocial factors are known to affect persistence of low-income students. In the context of a private comprehensive institution, less is known about how targeted interventions can improve the experience of low-income students and their academic persistence. By providing financial support through scholarships and academic support through robust programming, it is expected students will experience academic success and higher rates of graduation. Participation in the program is expected to increase students' academic persistence and decrease students' withdrawal from gateway courses; it also aims to increase retention rates overall. This project has the potential to advance understanding of the programmatic aspects that are most important for retaining low-income students in STEM. The project will be evaluated with quantitative and qualitative data from institutional data, grade reports, and surveys which will be triangulated with qualitative data from focus groups and interviews. The results of the project will be made available via conference presentations, publications, and professional development workshops. 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.