You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
An experimental City University of New York program designed to graduate community college students quickly has surpassed its goal of graduating at least half of its initial 1,000-student cohort in three years. City and university leaders gathered Tuesday to celebrate the 53 percent graduation rate achieved by the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), launched in 2007. The final graduation rate for the experimental project is expected to reach 56 percent by the fall, as more students earn their degree this summer. Participants in ASAP must attend class full-time, and they receive free tuition, books and transportation for staying enrolled. Additionally, these students take small courses grouped in blocks during the daytime and receive intense personal advising and tutoring. Last year, university officials accurately projected that their efforts would help them surpass their 50 percent graduation goal – a rate that is more than three times the national average for urban two-year institutions.
