SUCCESS
Supporting Urgent Community College
Equity through Student Services
The SUCCESS Fund (Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services) was created in fiscal year (FY) 2021 specifically for Massachusetts community colleges to invest in wraparound supports and services using models proven to strengthen outcomes for students facing systemic barriers. An innovative collaboration among the 15 Massachusetts Community Colleges, the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges (MACC), and the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE), SUCCESS programs are especially designed to improve outcomes for the colleges’ most underserved populations.
These wraparound support activities are meant to build on proven successful support services, including peer mentoring, academic skills workshops, field trips to four-year universities, targeted academic, career, transfer, and scholarship advising, and other vital supports. Following mid-year state budget reductions, SUCCESS was level-funded at $14 million in FY2025.
SUCCESS was created specifically for Massachusetts’ 15 community colleges to strengthen and scale proven models for wraparound supports and services that help strengthen outcomes for students facing systemic barriers.
Students supported by SUCCESS include economically disadvantaged students, first-generation college students, minoritized students, students with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ students.
Due to historical barriers, many of these students struggle to complete their coursework, reenroll, graduate, and/or transfer to a four-year institution. Through intensive coaching, academic advising, tutoring, mentoring, and more, SUCCESS services are designed to help strengthen outcomes for students facing systemic barriers.
And it’s working.
There was an 11-percentage point advantage in three-year outcomes for first-time full-time SUCCESS participants who were enrolled and engaged with the initiative in fall 2021 versus their peers who did not engage (66% vs. 55%). Within three years, more SUCCESS students than their peers remained enrolled at their home institutions and about twice as many SUCCESS students had completed a certificate or degree (either at their home institution or a transfer institution) than their comparable peers.
Read more in the program report below.
SUCCESS 2023-2024 Program Year Report:
SUCCESS Fund Program Overviews:
Click the links below to learn how the SUCCESS fund is being used at the 15 community colleges.
SUCCESS receives funding through the Massachusetts legislature and is supported by the 15 state community colleges, the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges (MACC), the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE), and the SUCCESS Leadership and Coordinating Committees.