The Board of Governors of the CSU System voted in September 2021 to invest $11 million to close equity gaps between white students and students of color and improve overall rates of student success.
Across the three Colorado State University campuses – Fort Collins, Pueblo and CSU Global – the initiative will focus on six broad categories: data; infusing a culture of success at the college/department levels; changes to the curriculum; enhancements to the curriculum; co-curricular investments; and targeted financial aid. The stretch goal is to eliminate equity gaps for all demographics and raise student success metrics to the top quartile of peers by 2027.
The Fort Collins campus, which will receive $9 million in new resources over the next three years from the Board initiative, has focused intensively on improving overall student success rates since 2008.
As part of those efforts, the University restructured its advising activities and invested heavily in financial aid, and in 2021, the campus recorded the highest number ever of racially minoritized and first-generation students earning degrees.
Its landmark Colorado Tuition Assistance Grant provides aid to low- and middle-income students based on the student and family’s income, and more than 4,700 students earn the grant every year. In all, the program has disbursed around $180 million to about 21,000 Colorado students. Overall, 60% of CSU students receive some kind of grant and scholarship aid from CSU, federal, state, and local sources (not including federal student loans).
The new resources will support increased financial aid for rural and lower-income students; further development of data tools to analyze and inform student success decision making; investments in academic and co-curricular improvements to support marginalized populations, faculty professional development, academic enrichment, and targeted interventions at the college and department level.