Program Description
This program provides financial assistance to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to establish or strengthen their physical plants, financial management, academic resources, and endowment-building capacity. Activities may include:

• Student services; educational equipment acquisition; facility renovation and construction; faculty and staff development;
• The establishment of a program of teacher education designed to qualify students to teach in public schools; the establishment of community outreach programs that will encourage elementary and secondary school students to develop the academic skills and the interest to pursue postsecondary education;
• The acquisition of real property in connection with the construction, renovation, or addition to or improvement of campus facilities; education or financial information designed to improve the financial literacy and economic literacy of students;
• Families, especially with regard to student indebtedness and student assistance programs under Title IV; and
• Services necessary for the implementation of projects or activities that are described in the grant application and that are approved, in advance, by the Department, except that not more than two percent of the grant amount may be used for this purpose.

Types of Projects
Funds may be used for the purchase, rental, or lease of scientific or laboratory equipment. Also supported are the construction, maintenance, renovation, and improvement of instruction facilities. Funds support faculty exchanges and the development of academic instruction in disciplines in which black Americans are underrepresented. Projects may support the purchase of library materials as well as tutoring, counseling, and student service programs. Also supported are: funds and administrative management; joint use of facilities; establishment or improvement of development offices; establishment or enhancement of programs of teacher education; establishment of outreach programs; and other activities that a grantee proposes in its application that contribute to carrying out the purposes of the program and are approved by the Secretary as part of the review and acceptance of the grant application.

Activity Objectives

Activity I: Improving Retention Through Enrollment Management - Activity Coordinator: Enrollment Coordinator and Development Programs Coordinator

• Improve Enrollment Planning;
• Target recruiting efforts and improve follow-up procedures;
• Track cohort retention rates;
• Improve upon the academic placement testing procedures;
• Improve the assessment process for placement in the Developmental Program;
• Strengthen tutorial services;
• Expand Retention Coordination strategies to include Learning Communities; and
• Prevent or reduce dropout by increasing financial literacy education to new students

Activity II: Strengthening Academic Programs - Activity Coordinators: Division Chairs and Lower College Coordinator

• Review academic programs for delivery, content, and marketability;
• Establish and maintain a General Education Advisement Team;
• Strengthen academic programs by increasing the number of instructors;
• Reduce class sizes in general education courses by hiring additional adjunct faculty;
• Provide in-house professional development for faculty in syllabi review and preparation with learning outcomes, advisement, online course delivery and alternative learning pedagogies;
• Increase online course offerings;
• Increase pre-and post-testing to measure learning outcomes; and
• Increase library holdings to support each academic program.

Activity III: Improving Student Career Success - Activity Coordinator: Career Guidance Coordinator

• Provide services to increase internships, employment, and graduate school admissions
• Conduct graduate career surveys six months after graduation and annually over the next five years to track their post-graduation outcomes.

Activity IV: Improving the Campus Infrastructure - Activity Coordinator(s) - IT Coordinator and Physical Plant Superintendent.

• Complete preventive and deferred maintenance for instructional facilities
• Increase and Improve instructional space

Activity V: Program Administration

• Provide leadership to the Title III grant program.
• Ensure effective implementation of activity objectives and that 100% of objectives are implemented in compliance with institutional policies, grant guidelines and Federal regulations.
• Ensure that objectives are measurable and that substantial progress is being made.
• Maintain open communications between grant personnel, the College Community, and the U.S. Department of Education
• Maintain an effective fund accountability system for all grant expenditures

Meetings

Quarterly Meetings - as scheduled