The graduation rate at Bronx Community College and the City University of New York has experienced a dramatic increase thanks to CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), an initiative that provides students with a broad range of academic, financial and personal support. This is the conclusion of “CUNY ASAP: Scaling Intensive Student Support Services to Raise Graduation Rates at Bronx Community College,” a study produced by the Washington D.C.-based organization Results for America.

According to the study, ASAP students at BCC had a three-year graduation rate of 53.9%, compared to 17.7% students who were not part of ASAP. Furthermore, “ASAP at BCC grew from 118 students in 2007 to roughly 4,400 by 2019,” notes the study, “serving nearly half of all matriculated students and re-shaping much of students’ experience at the college.”

BCC President Thomas A. Isekenegbe calls the study “a powerful endorsement of the ASAP approach to higher education that addresses the individual needs of each student and guides them through their college journey from the first day of class to Commencement.” BCC was named CUNY’s first “ASAP College” in 2015.

Among the benefits enjoyed by ASAP students: personalized advisement, tutoring, and career development services; flexible class scheduling and full-time enrollment; and financial assistance such as tuition and fee gap scholarships, textbook assistance, and free MetroCards.