Bridge to Success Wins National Award

Salt Lake Community College’s (SLCC) Bridge to Success program received the Most Innovative Program Award at Utah’s National Association for Student Affairs Professionals (NASPA) conference last month. The program was initially funded by an ImPACT subgrant in 2014 (known as the StepUp Ready grant), which is funded by the Utah System of Higher Education. The program has since grown and is part of the First-Year Experience program SLCC offers to new students–with preference given to first-generation college students and underrepresented students.

The program is a six-week non-credit hybrid course where students learn about:

Academic and institutional tools for college success
Finances
How to succeed in the classroom
Tips and tricks for math success
Understanding placement tests
Developing a college completion and career exploration plan
Writing a personal statement

Incentives to participate in the program include tuition waivers, priority class registration, on-campus jobs, and ongoing support through a students’ first year at SLCC.

Last academic year, the program expanded to include a math component and an in-depth math review taught by faculty. Outcomes already show 71% of students improved their math scores enough to skip one level of math remediation, saving them time and money. Retention rates among program participants were also higher than the college’s average, as much as 13% higher.

Student program participant comments:
“This program has helped me stay positive and on track as I’m closely approaching the first day of school, and I couldn’t be more eager to start.”

“The fact that I feel confident in going to college is enough to say that the Bridge to Success program has helped make me successful in college.”

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