Bay Path University Awarded $2.25M Federal Grant to Boost Student Success

LONGMEADOW — Bay Path University has been awarded a $2.25 million Title III grant from the U.S. Department of Education through its Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). The grant is designed to help higher-education institutions expand their capacity to serve at-risk students by providing funds to improve and strengthen the institutions’ academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability.

According to Bay Path officials, the grant will help guide students along their academic pathway leading to the career they envision, align and deliver services holistically to support their success, and integrate new and existing systems and technologies to streamline communications and information sharing to better serve and support students.

“We are honored to receive this grant,” Bay Path President Carol Leary said. “This funding will allow us to enhance our student-centric, high-touch support, including mentoring and career guidance, and provide us with increased capabilities to use predictive analytics and data to provide timely interventions for the challenges students encounter along their academic journeys.”

Funds awarded through the five-year grant will address three major areas:

• Guided pathways. Students will participate in an enhanced process that will integrate academic coursework with intentional career-focused guidance, high-impact practices, and adaptive learning through the latest software to adjust to their specific needs and learning styles;

• Reframed support. Students will receive a continuum of support to guide them through advising, goal setting, career exploration, and internships; and

• Integrated technology. A robust integration of systems along with a new customer-relations management system will streamline and facilitate communications, faculty and student interaction, and administrative and support services through a virtual one-stop center.

Among project outcomes, the “Learning for the 21st Century: Reshaping the Student Experience” initiative is designed to increase persistence, retention, and graduation rates, as well as expand the university’s capacity to educate women as 21st-century learners who graduate well-prepared with the right experience for career success.

This is the second Title III SIP award made to the university. In 2012, Bay Path received a grant for $2 million for the “Learners and Leaders” project.