San Francisco – Doña Ana Community College (DACC) recently displayed the “Aggie Pathway” as an innovative approach to help students graduate. The exhibit took place at the recently completed Achieving the Dream (ATD) student success conference.
The national conference included 265 community colleges discussing best practices for students to complete their certificates and degrees. DACC was one of only 28 colleges asked to display a promising program in the Emerging Ideas Exchange at the 13th annual conference held February 21-24. ATD is dedicated to student success and reform. DACC is a leader college in the organization.
The Aggie Pathway is designed to effectively support students who begin their academic careers at a community college en route to a bachelor’s degree at New Mexico State University (NMSU). The transfer program drew wide interest from conference attendees.
The Aggie Pathway recently completed its first semester at all community colleges in the NMSU system. In the inaugural semester, 286 students took advantage of the program at DACC.
Three groups were identified as candidates for the DACC program; those who want to attend NMSU but do not meet the admission requirements, those who are the first in their family to pursue higher education, and those who are interested in a bachelor’s degree but want to start on a community college campus.
The program includes a number of educational practices that research has shown to support student success including;
· Learning communities
· Peer mentors, advisors and faculty support from both DACC and NMSU,
· Experiencing student life at NMSU through academic, cultural and athletic events.
Aggie Pathway students with a 2.5 GPA or greater after 24 college-level credits will be able to transition to NMSU at that time. Students with a 2.0 to 2.49 GPA will be able to enter after 36 college-level credits. Pathway students will be eligible for an associate degree when they pass all of the courses required for the degree, whether they complete the requirements while at the community college or after they transition to the university. Classes are forming now for the Fall 2017 semester.
Information from DACC