EPCC To Share Grant From Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation

El Paso Community College is one of five Texas community colleges that will share a $500,000 grant to help more students complete their studies.

The schools are launching the five-year Completion by Design project in Texas. Participating with EPCC are the Lone Star College System, Alamo Colleges, Dallas Community College District, and South Texas College.

The Texas Completion by Design colleges are among those chosen from four states for the national Completion by Design project, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. An EPCC news release said the colleges were selected because of their innovative ideas on improving the completion rates on their campuses. They were picked for the project after a competition that was announced last October at the White House Summit on Community Colleges.

Richard M. Rhodes, president of El Paso Community College said, “El Paso Community College is committed to and passionate about student success and with the investment by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation we will be able to accelerate our efforts through collaboration, new ideas, and greater focus. We look forward to the exchange and dialog among the cadre colleges to significantly increase the number of students who complete their associates degrees and move on to a four-year institution or into the workforce.”

EPCC said Completion by Design aims to build on proven practices already underway at these colleges, which are already working to address the needs of students. They are focusing on new approaches to areas like financial aid counseling, course scheduling and advising.

In Phase I of the program, which will last a year, schools will review best practices, create a model pathway to completion and design the implementation of the program. Phase II covers implementation of the plan at a pilot campus at each institution. If successful, Phase III will be the scaling and adoption of the program across the other colleges within the Texas team and other community colleges in the state. EPCC said all three phases of the Completion by Design grant will take about five years to complete.

“We believe that today’s students — particularly low-income students — need smarter, affordable postsecondary options that lead to high-quality outcomes,” said Hilary Pennington, director of educationand postsecondary success at the Gates Foundation. Completion by Design aims to give them that, and we are excited to support the innovative work being conducted by these outstanding colleges.”