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 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. SUCCESS was funded by the Massachusetts legislature at $14 million in FY2023.
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.
Overall, there was a 16 percentage point advantage in one-year persistence* (67% vs. 51%) between SUCCESS participants and their peers who were not engaged with the initiative; persistence from fall 2021 to fall 2022 exceeded that of comparable peers for every subgroup examined.
*Persistence reflects continued enrollment at the institution or transfer to another institution by the fall of the second year of college or completion of a certificate or associate degree by the end of the first academic year.
Read more in the Final 2021-2022 report below.
SUCCESS Fall 2021 Report:
SUCCESS Final 2021-22 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.