Elgin Community College now offers a new Student Success Coaching program, which will provide individualized, equitable, high-touch, holistic support to students. The primary goals of the program include increasing course success, course progression, and student retention.

Providing community college students with comprehensive supports increases their chances of earning an associate degree within three years, according to a study released by the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab, a research lab focused on economic opportunity for marginalized communities.

Sometimes students need extra support to reach their full potential. It can come in the form of tutoring, financial aid and many other resources. Ensuring students, especially high-risk students, have the tools to succeed ensures better workers entering the professional world and a stronger workforce.

The program at Logan Correctional Center is the only one in Illinois and among a small number of programs nationwide where women who are incarcerated can earn a bachelor’s degree.

A barbed wire fence wraps around the Logan Correctional Center in central Illinois. But from the inside, the education building looks like a regular school. There are chairs, whiteboards, a few posters on the walls. Higher education programs in prison help keep people from returning after being released. Most college programs are at men's prisons. At the Logan Correctional Center, the focus is on women.

Many community college students face an array of challenges on their path to and through higher education, from juggling family and jobs to financial issues. A new City Colleges of Chicago-One Million Degrees partnership aims to help by automatically enrolling thousands of students into the OMD program, giving them access to coaching, mentoring, and financial assistance.

A Chicago-based student support program for community college students is set to drastically expand its reach and the number of students it serves. Matters surrounding this expansion and scalability were discussed in sessions at a a one-day symposium, Building Towards Equity in Higher Education. 

As vice president of student success and engagement, Price shares his student success philosophy, including the importance of nurturing hope.