Project Degree Completion Awards Application Process to Begin this Week

APLU’s Project Degree Completion Awards will open its request for applications at the end of this week. All APLU institutions are eligible to apply.

The winner of the award will be announced at APLU’s Annual Meeting on Nov. 15-17, 2015 in Indianapolis and receive a prize of $15,000. In addition, this year’s five finalists will have the opportunity to present their strategies for student success during a session at the Annual Meeting. The Award is made possible by a generous grant from the Lumina Foundation.

The application packet will be available at www.aplu.org/pdcawards.

The purpose of the PDC Award is to:

1. Reward and bolster the current efforts of universities that are successfully improving the retention and graduation of students;
2. Collect effective campus-based models from successful higher education institutions for other institutions to use to increase student retention and graduation; and
3. Mobilize all colleges and universities to prioritize improving student retention and graduation outcomes.

The award also serves to further enhance APLU’s Project Degree Completion—a joint effort with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) to achieve a national goal of having 60 percent of U.S. adults possesses a bachelor’s degree by 2025. Project Degree Completion’ is a commitment signed by nearly 500 four-year public colleges and universities, to collectively increase the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the U.S. from an estimated 14.6 million to 18.4 million by 2025 for a total of 3.8 million additional degrees.