Title III

Title III programs help eligible institutions of higher education become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen the academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability of eligible institutions.

In September of 2014, Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) was awarded a five-year Title III grant totaling $2.2 million from the U.S. Department of Education. The college plans to use the funds to help the most at-risk students and improve the overall student experience.

The OCCC grant project is called “A Model for Improved Student Experiences: Strengthening Academic Programs and Student Services.” The broad goals of the project are to strengthen student learning by redesigning college-level freshmen gateway courses and incorporate more comprehensive advisement and degree planning.

OCCC will also use some of the Title III funds to do the following:

• Supported by stipends, 264 faculty and staff will receive training, redesign curricula, pilot new methodologies and implement new degree-mapping software
• Three new staff positions will be supported by the grant
• Rebuild the academic advising point of service area, including new advising terminals
• Nine classrooms will be retrofitted to accommodate collaborative learning student work stations
• $166,000 is dedicated to the OCCC Foundation endowment which funds many student scholarships