Feds Select Bergen Community College For $2.97 Million Grant

Press release from Bergen Community College:

September 23, 2024

A $3 million federal grant will provide new support services for Bergen Community College students.

The U.S. Department of Education officially announced the recipients of the “Developing Hispanic-Serving Institution” competitive award program this month. The grant aligns with many of the College’s most important objectives in the recently approved five-year strategic plan and the annual goals of President Eric M. Friedman, Ph.D., including those related to student retention, persistence and completion.

“Research shows that students engaged through hands-on and holistic support services have better outcomes – they remain enrolled and they graduate,” Friedman said. “The ‘Developing Hispanic-Serving Institution’ grant will not only allow us to put ‘more boots on the ground’ who engage with students on a daily basis, but will also improve our institutional capacity to provide additional resources and services.”

Under the “Bergen Rebounds: Assist, Advance and Achieve” initiative, the College seeks to accomplish three goals: 1) increase retention and graduation rates among the targeted student populations; 2) expand services that contribute to completion; and 3) improve the knowledge base of faculty and staff through professional development. To achieve the goals, Bergen will launch numerous practices rooted in research from the What Works Clearinghouse – a best practices database maintained by the federal government – that improve student experiences and outcomes. Among them, the College will redesign its new student orientation program, embed tutors with faculty teaching online courses and create a new financial literacy initiative.

The College will soon hire a project director to lead a staff of two full-time professional staff members, three part-time staff members, 20 peer leaders, five success coaches and five tutors. Activities related to the program will begin on October 1 and continue through 2029.

Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.

This press release was produced by Bergen Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.