LCC SSS Program Receives Grant for Continued Funding

Labette Community College Student Support Services Program is excited to announce that they have received funding for the next five years through the Student Support Services Program of the United States Department of Education. SSS received news of the funding from Senator Jerry Moran’s office regarding the status of the application. The total funding for the next academic year is $280,000.00, and the total award for the five-year period of the grant will be well over $1.4 million.

The purpose of the Student Support Services Program is to provide academic and other support services to low-income, first-generation or disabled college students to increase students’ retention and graduation rates, facilitate their transfer from two-year to four-year colleges, and foster an institutional climate supportive of the success of low income and first generation college students and individuals with disabilities.

Program services include instruction in basic study skills, tutorial services, academic, financial, or personal counseling, assistance in securing admission and financial aid for enrollment in four-year institutions, assistance in securing admission and financial aid for enrollment in graduate and professional programs, guidance on career options, mentoring and special services for students with limited English proficiency, and grant aid.

LCC’s SSS program has been serving LCC students since 1990 and will continue that service for the next five years. Each year, SSS assists 200 LCC students who are first-generation, income-eligible, and/or are living with a disability to meet their academic goals of persisting, graduating, and transferring. “In the past five years, the rates at which the students receiving SSS services have persisted from year to year have averaged 74%,” noted project director, Kelly Kirkpatrick. “SSS participants in good academic standing, meaning their grade point averages are 2.0 or better, have averaged 86% and the project’s four-year graduation rate is roughly 40%,” she continued.

“Students who qualify for our services but don’t take advantage of them,” Kirkpatrick said, “are half as likely to graduate from LCC as the students we serve. We have proven that our interventions work to help at-risk students succeed in great numbers here at LCC. We look forward to continuing the outstanding services we’ve been providing for years to our students and helping future generations of Cardinals for the next five years.”

For more information regarding the grant Student Support Services at Labette Community College has received or for questions regarding the services SSS offers to students, please contact Kelly Kirkpatrick, SSS Director, at KellyK@Labette.edu or by phone at (620) 820-1147.