The 51在线 today announced it is participating in a massive new national effort in which 130 public universities and systems will work together to increase college access, close the achievement gap and award hundreds of thousands more degrees by 2025. The participating institutions will work within 鈥渃lusters鈥� of up to 12 institutions as they concurrently implement innovative and effective practices to advance student success on their campuses. Collectively, the institutions enroll three million students, including one million students who receive Pell Grants.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) is organizing the collaborative effort, known as Powered by Publics: Scaling Student Success. According to APLU, this represents the largest-ever collaborative effort to improve college access, advance equity and increase college degrees awarded. In addition to committing to those goals, participating institutions have pledged to share aggregate data demonstrating their progress to help spur lasting change across the higher education sector.
鈥淎t USF, we are driven by our desire to make a difference in the lives of our students, our communities and society at large,鈥� said USF System President Judy Genshaft. 鈥淥ur institutional focus on student success has been central to these efforts, and we鈥檙e proud to be at forefront of developing positive changes on a national level. I鈥檓 confident this new APLU collaboration will help us make an even bigger impact, as well as build important new connections with our peers around the country.鈥�
USF has become a national leader in student success, earning recognition in recent years from several highly-regarded organizations. Through a university-wide commitment and strategic investments, USF has improved its six-year graduation rate from 51 percent to 71 percent and eliminated the achievement gap by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, both rare achievements in higher education.
Earlier this year, the Foundation for Student Success selected USF to serve as a mentor to three other universities across the country. The partnership allows the institutions to learn about the cutting-edge policies, programs, services and practices that are in place at USF to help with student retention and progression toward timely graduation.
鲍厂贵鈥檚 for the APLU-led initiative includes eight other institutions, primarily from the eastern United States.
鈥淥ver the past few years, we鈥檝e witnessed a real and growing enthusiasm among public university leaders to advance college completion nationally,鈥� said APLU President Peter McPherson. 鈥淲e have to seize the moment and mobilize institutions to improve not just college access, but also equity in student outcomes and the number of students who earn degrees. That鈥檚 what Powered by Publics is all about and why we鈥檙e thrilled to work with our member institutions toward such an important national goal.鈥�
By design, the participating institutions reflect a wide array of institutional characteristics such as enrollment, student demographics, regional workforce needs and selectivity. The broad diversity of the institutions is intended to help create a playbook of adaptable student success reforms that can be adopted and scaled up across a variety of institution types, including those with limited resources.
An FAQ on the new national effort is .