CUNY’s College Completion Innovation Fund (CCIF) has awarded a grant to the First Year Program (FYP) at Bronx Community College (BCC) aimed at increasing the student retention rate after freshman year. Junior advisers paired with senior advisers will collaborate to support students both personally and academically through an individualized student-centered approach. 

Building on the First Year Experience’s ‘Pillars for Student Success’ (academic success, financial literacy, career & transfer readiness, and mindset for success), this pioneer incentive-based program will help keep the momentum going for first year students in their second semester and offer up to 250 students with personalized guidance and education around the importance of maintaining required grades to retain financial aid. BCC’s First Year Program was selected for this grant among a host of colleges and community-based organizations in New York City’s five boroughs. 

‘Focusing on first year students not enrolled in specialized programs like ASAP or College Discovery, our new initiatives through this grant will enable us to be more intentional in addressing issues around retention,” said Tica Frazer, Associate Director of the First Year Program, who along with colleagues Francisco Legasa and Astrid Barreras, spearheaded the writing of the grant. “By combining strategies from the First Year Program with innovative second-semester initiatives, we expect to offer unwavering support for students and increase student retention and success at BCC.”  

Frazer notes that the model’s reliance on data collection and analysis for tracking outcomes and making informed decisions can be replicated in other settings. Additionally, the data gathered will enable evidence-based program adjustments and improvements. 

“Most of all, we are excited about what we will learn through this experience and the impact it will have. We will gather important data that will shape and inform programming moving forward,” Frazer said. “This collaborative approach can be scaled and adapted to other institutions.”   

The CCIF is the first collaborative fund focused exclusively on college retention and completion in New York City.