Title III is a federal initiative operated through the U.S. Department of Education. The Higher Education Act of 1965, under Title III, established a program to strengthen the academic quality of eligible higher education institutions by appropriating discretionary funds through grants. Title III was revised by Congress in 1980, dividing it into several parts resulting in the creation of Part A – Strengthening Institutions Program. The following statement defines the purpose for Title III Part A- Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) provided by the U.S. Department of Education:
“SIP provides discretionary grants to eligible institutions of higher education to help them become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students, by providing funds to improve and strengthen the institution’s academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability...making a substantial contribution to the higher education resources of the nation.”
In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Education awarded Texas A&M University-Commerce a Title III, Part A – Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) grant of $2.2 million disbursed over a five-year period. The awarded project, Lions Success Teams: Wrap-around Support to Increase Access, Retention, and Academic Success, is focused on addressing the growing challenges related to retention, persistence, lack of career awareness and/or direction, and financial well-being among first-time, full-time students. The Lions Success Teams project establishes both a space and culture of collaboration among key student support units along these growing challenges. The project facilitates and supports a centralized holistic approach to student support with services co-located to provide high-touch purposeful engagement with students. The Lions Success Teams consists of several support services working collaboratively with the following offices directly connected to the annual performance success of the Title III project.
Throughout each academic year, Lions Success Teams will team up to intentionally and creatively anticipate, prevent, and intervene on student needs through a variety of relevant services and student-oriented programming. Some services include integrated early interventions, mediated major change, and collaborative advising. Some activities include Choosing Your Major and Matching Major to Occupation workshops presented by the Office of Student Career Preparedness, Financial Wellness Assessment services provided by the Blue to Gold Money Management Center, and proactive group advising facilitated by Academic Advising. First-year students will be invited to engage with the Lions Success Teams each semester to ensure achievement along their academic journey.
Our Title III project is primarily defined by two goals:
Goal 1: Increase educational access and success through enhancing first-time, full-time students access to targeted advising and tailored career preparedness.
Goal 2: Increase educational access and success through enhancing student access to quality financial advice and support to attain their educational goals.
These goals involve the following strategies:
The following tasks were set to accomplish our project goals:
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