Greensboro College Receives Almost $2 Million to Enhance Degree-Completion Support Program

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Greensboro College has received a five-year, $1.93 million federal grant to enhance its degree-completion support program.

The college’s degree-completion program goal is to increase rates of persistence and graduation among traditional undergraduate students, with particular focus on low-income, first-generation students.

The competitive Title III grant award from the U.S. Department of Education is believed to be the largest federal grant the college ever has received. Title III grants are intended to help colleges and universities serve low-income students.

“This grant is a significant step forward,” said President Lawrence D. Czarda, Ph.D. “Two years ago, we began implementing recommendations from the college’s Degree Completion Task Force to help ensure that students who start their degrees here complete them, and this grant will bring many of those recommendations to fruition.”

Greensboro College’s degree-completion program:

  • Establishes a supplemental-instruction program, using early student data analysis to identify at-risk students, and assigns them peer mentors in certain courses.
  • Adds a new math position, with 50% of the position’s time going to professional tutoring and 50% to teaching introductory math courses.
  • Completes the First Citizens Bank Global Communication Center, the first phase of which is scheduled to open later this academic year, and adds a full-time director. The center will not only provide writing tutoring but also will include studios in which students can create multimedia projects.
  • Establishes an intercultural center with a director.
  • Funds a comprehensive data-management system and half-time data analyst.
  • Helps fund a full-time director of student retention.

The grant covers all expenses for the first three years, with the college assuming some salary expenses in the fourth and fifth years.

The grant totals $1,993,023, with costs being borne by the college bringing the total cost of the project to $2,048,523. The federal government will be financing 94.4 percent of the project, with the college funding the remaining 5.6%.

Greensboro College provides a liberal-arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and, spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Founded in 1838 and located in downtown Greensboro, the college enrolls about 1,000 students from 29 states and territories, the District of Columbia, and seven foreign countries in its undergraduate liberal-arts program and six master’s degree programs. In addition to rigorous academics and a well-supported Honors program, the school features an 18-sport NCAA Division III athletic program and dozens of service and recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.greensboro.edu.

Think critically. Act justly. Live faithfully.

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Media Contact:
Lex Alexander, Director of Communications
lex.alexander@greensboro.edu

Greensboro College
815 W. Market St.
Greensboro, NC 27401
336-272-7102, ext. 5398
Cell: 336-707-6617
www.greensboro.edu

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Joshua Fitzgerald photo

“I loved the GC Honors program and Greensboro College. I felt safe and a sense of genuine belonging at the college. I worked closely with my thesis advisor and professors who helped inspire me to define my path and passion of interest. That path has led me to my doctoral studies in Engineering Mechanics.”

- Joshua Fitzgerald, Class of ’19, Mathematics Major

Joshua currently studies astrodynamics at Virginia Tech University and is an Engineering Mechanics Ph.D. Candidate.