Colorado Mountain College debuts New York-based community college program to boost graduation rates in rural Colorado

Colorado Mountain College has been selected as one of two Colorado rural community colleges to pilot a new student support program as part of a $20 million initiative to improve economic opportunities for Coloradans.

The program, modeled after the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs initiative, was developed by the City University of New York in 2007 as a way to improve lagging graduation rates. For community colleges in Colorado, it’s an avenue to help more students earn associate degrees.

Nationwide community college graduation rates are significantly lower than those of traditional colleges, with only 22% of community college students graduating from a two-year program on time compared with 60% in four-year programs, according to National Center for Education Statistics data. At Colorado Mountain College, these lower graduation rates are especially pronounced for part-time and older first-generation students — the targeted demographic for their new pool of program participants, Chief of Staff Yesenia Silva Estrada said.

Studies have found that the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs initiative and its replications across the country result in higher graduation rates and higher salaries following graduation. The program has helped more than 110,000 students graduate at the City University of New York alone, according to the school’s chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez.

Colorado Mountain College is set to launch its personalized version of the program in the fall, supporting roughly 150 students “who are in the most need” — which the college identifies as students working toward an associate degree who are enrolled part time, whether it be for financial, familial or other obligations.

“Part of this is helping the student be successful so that they’re able to acquire that degree in less time than it traditionally would take them,” Estrada said. “The academic support comes with understanding that students need to have that ability to accelerate (their) credit accumulation.”

The three-year program model provides comprehensive academic, financial and personal support for low-income students pursuing associate degrees. While some key elements of the program will remain the same, Estrada said the college has been working on redesigning elements of the program to cater to the unique challenges faced by students in resort mountain communities, such as living expenses, rural transportation and career preparation.

Counties along the Interstate 70 corridor, particularly Garfield and Eagle counties, are among the more populous areas in the college’s service region and have the largest number of part-time students seeking associate degrees. These counties also have the largest portion of commuter students, a challenge Estrada said could contribute to the challenge of being part-time.

“Every college adapts the model to the students’ needs,” she said. “Obviously there are aspects of this model that are must-have, and we’re excited to contribute to evidence-based information on what works in rural communities.”

Estrada said Colorado Mountain College is still in the process of defining what the financial support element of the program will look like, though some of the possibilities include stipends for transportation like gas cards, or assistance with things like housing and child care.

At the City University of New York, the program offers similar financial assistance in the form of subway fee stipends and book subsidies.

“We’re a pretty affordable college when it comes to our tuition … so maybe the funding could go toward transportation or other expenses that might be a barrier for a student to be able to be full-time,” Estrada said. 

Bringing urban solutions to rural campuses

The program’s introduction is just the first phase of a $20 million multi-year philanthropic partnership between Colorado and philanthropic organization Arnold Ventures that aims to “improve economic opportunities for Coloradans.” Colorado will spend $10 million on the Colorado Partnership for Proven Initiatives over four years, with Arnold Ventures matching the funding.

Estrada said the college was selected to introduce the program because of its long-standing participation with the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, which helps reduce the cost of higher education for students in response to the “Colorado Paradox.”

“We are one of the states with the highest amount of educated professionals, but we don’t do a good job of educating our own,” Estrada said.

Through a planning grant from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, the state set out to learn more about the New York-based program and what the model might look like in rural communities, which included visitation to college campuses that had successfully adopted it in 2023-24.

Colorado Mountain College’s initial involvement with the planning grant earned it an invitation to be part of the program’s launch, which the college accepted. Lamar Community College and Colorado Mountain College — though the first to implement the program — will likely not be the only ones.

“What we understand is that this is not just going to be a replication with us and Lamar — there’s an interest of obviously expanding this to the rest of the community college system,” Estrada said. “We’re just excited to be able to start this year and then seeing other colleges also potentially join in the coming years.”