If you're a former Carroll Community College student who didn't quite complete your degree requirements, the college wants you back. And it's willing to pay.
The college recently received a $64,617 One-Step-Away grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the money is targeted at assisting students who are within 15 credits of graduation, but have stopped attending school, according to Dr. Jan Ohlemacher, vice president of Academic and Student Affairs at the college.
"All One Step Away grant funds are designated toward direct assistance to students, such as in the form of tuition assistance, transportation, or child care costs, for example," she said. "About 180 'near completers' have been identified at Carroll Community College who meet the criteria for assistance."
Students who apply and are approved for assistance will receive what Ohlemacher calls "concierge services," where assigned advisers will help the applicants obtain any other scholarships or grant money for which they may be eligible in addition to the One Step Away assistance.
"Depending on the individual, we estimated a $25 tuition discount for each credit up to 15 credits," Ohlemacher said. "We included $50 toward book purchases per course, if needed. We also offered to pay for transcripts if they had other course work to apply to their degree. We estimated $80 a semester for transportation if they needed a ride to the college. We also offered to pay for 10 hours of child care, if that would help."
The current tuition cost per credit at the college is $118, according to Ohlemacher.
Not all of the 180 students identified as "near completers" have expressed interest in returning to Carroll Community College, according to Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Michael Kiphart; many could not be reached or were uninterested.
Ultimately, 49 students responded positively to outreach by the college and, to date, 12 students have been approved for One Step Away grants for the spring semester, according to Sylvia Blair, executive assistant to the president at Carroll Community College.
There were also 20 students out of the 180 who were identified as already having enough credits to graduated and according to Ohlemacher, those students each will receive a $25 gift card if they apply for the grant program.
Blair explained why: "College students are not automatically graduated, they must apply and find out whether they have met all of their degree requirements first. ... Gift cards were given out before the students receiving grant assistance applied to graduate — as an incentive for them to apply."
Blair said other students who believe they may qualify for the One Step Away grant program have until the add/drop deadline for the spring semester — Feb. 9 — to apply for grant assistance and register for classes. Students can start the process by contacting Janenne Corcoran, the director of Advising and Transfer at 410-386-8435.
Funding for the One Step Away grant came from the Maryland Higher Education Commission, which asked bachelor or associate degree granting institutions in the state to apply for a slice of the $500,000 in grant funding the commission had to offer over a two year period, according to Benee Edwards, outreach and grants management coordinator with the Commission. Carroll Community College was one of the nine institutions to receive funding for a period that ends in July 2016, but she said it was currently unclear if the program would be continued after that date.
According to Andrenette Mack-Augins, outreach and grants management manager with the Maryland Higher Education Commission, institutions that applied for the grant funding had to agree to provide in-kind matching funding equal to at least one third the cost of the proposed project.
Carroll Community College matched the grant with $45,495, which according to Ohlemacher, covered the time of staff dedicated to the project, as well as some supplies, allowing the grant money from the commission to go directly to the eligible students. She said an additional $5,000 was used to develop a transitional math course for returning "near completers."
"In doing our analysis, we found one-third of the students needed the math sequence to finish, and we believe this will help them," Ohlemacher.
In a Jan. 27 press release about the grant program, Carroll Community College President James Ball described what the college hopes to achieve through the grant program, and why it is important, saying: "The U.S. has fallen behind other first-world countries in degree completion. ... We, along with other colleges, are taking the necessary steps to reach out to our students to encourage their degree completion."
Reach staff writer Jon Kelvey at 410-857-3317 or jon.kelvey@carrollcountytimes.com
More information
For more information on the One Step Away grant program or to apply, contact Janenne Corcoran at 410-386-8435. The deadline for eligible students to apply and register for classes is Feb. 9.
