Pathways for Low-Income Community College Students to Earn Engineering Degrees Based on a Co-Enrollment Model

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Texas A&M University and Blinn College. A total of 75 scholars pursuing Associate and Bachelor's degrees in Engineering will receive scholarships up to $15,000 per year for up to five years. Scholars will receive faculty mentoring and the project will build strong scholar cohorts through a co-enrollment model intended to strengthen transfer outcomes for students transitioning from 2-year to 4-year college engineering studies. Additional activities for scholars will include a focused learning community and student seminars. The overall goal of this Track 3 Scholarships in STEM project is to increase STEM degree completion of academically talented, low-income undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There is a significant national need to grow the STEM workforce and nurture key talent that will ensure economic competitiveness and provide domestic leadership across critical sectors. This project directly speaks to this need by supporting STEM student success, which will strengthen the workforce in semiconductor manufacturing and other key areas of need. The project will be assessed by an experienced evaluator, and the data generated will contribute to the knowledge base by examining the role of the co-enrollment model on retention and graduation outcomes for talented, low-income students in STEM. This project is funded by NSF's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of academically talented, low-income students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.