Maryland's Public System of Higher Education

USM Receives State Enhancement Funding to Bolster College Completion

College completion is a top priority for the University System of Maryland (USM)--and for the state of Maryland.

In 2013, the Maryland General Assembly passed the College and Career Readiness Act, which set forth the goal of having 55 percent of Maryland's adults age 25 to 64 hold at least an associate's degree by 2025. USM has played an integral role in achieving that goal. In FY 2015 alone, USM granted 37,373 degrees, including more than 71 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded in Maryland.

Historically, USM has funded efforts to spur college completion through the general operating budget set forth by the Maryland legislature. In January 2016, Governor Larry Hogan requested - and the legislature approved - an additional $6.8 million in enhancement funding to support USM's college completion initiatives.

"Increasing educational opportunities for all Marylanders has and will always be a top priority for our administration," says Matthew Clark, Hogan's director of communications. "Through this funding, USM will be able to increase the quality and availability of support for students, which will help to increase enrollment, close achievement gaps, and boost degree completion. It will also create and support an educated workforce, which is crucial to our goals of economic development, job creation, and changing Maryland for the better."

USM Chancellor Robert Caret agrees. "Maryland's future is directly tied to the educational attainment of its citizens. USM is pleased to partner with the state on our mutual goal of raising that attainment level and positioning Maryland's economy for further growth."

USM solicited proposals from its member institutions about how its enhancement funding should be used. USM received a total of 25 proposals, which were reviewed and evaluated by members of USM's institutional research and budget offices. Based on those evaluations and discussions with USM leadership, USM Chancellor Robert Caret chose to fund 17. An overview of these proposals can be found in the table below.

As this table illustrates, USM institutions seek to use the enhancement funding in a variety of ways. Towson University (TU), for example, plans to enhance its Student Achieve Goals through Education (SAGE) program--a program that seeks to increase retention and graduation rates of first-year undergraduates from diverse backgrounds. Frostburg State University, by contrast, seeks to use its enhancement funds to expand its Academic Success Network (ASN) and to enable more students to participate in experiential activities, such as the university's annual leadership and diversity retreats, which have been shown to improve student retention and college completion.

Other institutions, such as the University of Maryland, College Park and Bowie State University, plan to use the additional funding to bolster their support for transfer students. Still others intend to gather data on student success, engage enrollment management consultants, and expand program offerings to better meet local workforce demands.

Caret says these initiatives will help sustain the momentum USM has built around college completion over the past several years.

"We've made major progress in getting students through the educational pipeline," he said. "By improving affordability, focusing on access, expanding partnerships with community colleges, and expanding our regional education centers, we have reduced the average time-to-degree to 4.6 years and narrowed the achievement gap impacting minority and low-income students. Our six-year graduation rates for first-time, full-time freshmen are at an all-time high. We produce nearly seven graduates for every 10 entering freshmen. Thanks to the governor's enhancement funding, we have even more resources to support USM students in getting their degree and becoming productive members of the Maryland workforce."

Contact: Jennifer Rose
Phone: 301.445.2756
Email: jrose@usmd.edu