{"id":135967,"date":"2023-06-28T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=135967"},"modified":"2023-06-28T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T16:39:11","slug":"valencia-ucf-receive-1-3m-from-helios-to-increase-graduates-through-student-stipends-and-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/valencia-ucf-receive-1-3m-from-helios-to-increase-graduates-through-student-stipends-and-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Valencia, UCF Receive $1.3M from Helios to Increase Graduates Through Student Stipends and Support"},"content":{"rendered":"
Valencia College and UCF are embarking on a new strategic partnership to boost transfer student success, funded by a $1.3 million grant from the Helios Education Foundation.<\/p>\n
Led by the UCF\/Valencia Improving Student Success Task Force, the new pilot program will provide additional support to students before and after their transfer from Valencia to UCF.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Helios grant presents a real opportunity for us to improve students\u2019 readiness to transfer to UCF and shorten the amount of time needed to graduate with a bachelor\u2019s degree,\u201d says Valencia College President Kathleen Plinske.<\/p>\n
\u201cDirectConnect to UCF is an important pathway to help students earn life-changing bachelor\u2019s degrees and become part of the talent pipeline that fuels Central Florida\u2019s industries,\u201d says UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright. \u201cThanks to the support of the Helios Foundation, more students will be well-prepared to launch or advance their careers faster, jump-starting innovation and serving our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new grant will support Valencia College DirectConnect transfer students in the Fall 2023,\u00a0Spring 2024 and Summer 2024 semesters, and provide them with Helios-funded incentives for the following:<\/p>\n
Additionally, Valencia students will be encouraged to participate in a S.E.E. UCF tour, which stands for Students Early Exploration, with food and transportation provided. In addition to the financial incentives, the grant will cover program costs, staffing and data analysis for the length of the grant.<\/p>\n
Using data from the Central Florida Educational Ecosystem Database (CFEED) and based on a Fall 2022 pilot which focused on students transferring to UCF\u2019s College of Business, Valencia and UCF have identified multiple interventions to increase the success of transfer students between their institutions. The Helios grant will be used to expand the pilot and serve transfer students within all programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHelios Education Foundation\u2019s investment in DirectConnect provides Central Florida students both on-campus and financial supports to ensure completion of their Valencia College degree as the first step toward completion of a bachelor\u2019s degree at UCF,\u201d says Paul Luna, president and CEO of Helios Education Foundation.<\/p>\n
The DirectConnect to UCF partnership is recognized as one of the leading transfer programs in the country. Since its inception in 2006, more than 42,000 UCF bachelor\u2019s degrees have been awarded to Valencia College students, accounting \u00a0for nearly a quarter of UCF\u2019s baccalaureate graduates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The investment from the Helios Education Foundation will aid students enrolled in the Fall 2023 through Summer 2024 semesters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":135968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[1323,3703,18102,4771],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-135967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","tag-direct-connect-to-ucf","tag-philanthropy","tag-student-success","tag-transfer-students"],"yoast_head":"\n