State awarded grant for community colleges

OLYMPIA — The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges announced Monday that it and the Washington Student Achievement Council were awarded a one-year $50,000 Accelerated Study in Associate Programs planning grant.

According to the announcement, Washington state was one of five states selected for the competitive grant awarded by a partnership of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs and the Accelerate, Complete and Engage National Replication Collaborative.

The ASAP grant will allow three pilot community and technical colleges to explore the possibility of adopting the ASAP model in Washington, the press release said.

"Bringing the ASAP program to Washington state could change the lives of thousands of students," Lauren Hibbs, director of student services at the State Board, said. "ASAP works, and we're excited to find out if it'll work here too."

The three Washington pilot colleges are Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, Peninsula College in Port Angeles and the Community Colleges of Spokane, which encompasses Spokane Community College and Spokane Falls Community College, according to the announcement.

Developed by the City University of New York, the ASAP program supports students with advising and tutoring in addition to financial support for expenses like transportation and textbooks. The release stated that participating students agreed to take classes full-time and meet with their advisors regularly.

If the program is adopted in Washington state, it would complement work already underway in the college system to increase graduation rates and reduce equity gaps among students who complete their programs, according to the release.