Alternative Admission Program and First-year Student Support

Holy Family University (PA)

The Alternative Admissions Program (AAP) at Holy Family University recruits, accepts, and enrolls students that do not meet its normal criteria for admission. These students are generally from an underserved population (first-generation, low-income, under prepared academically, etc.). The average incoming admissions scores (SAT and HSGPA) for these students are significantly lower than the university's regularly admitted students.

Students take a course over the summer to prepare them for college-level work. The university is piloting a specific sequence of two courses for AAP students to take during the summer prior to the start of the fall semester.

AAP students are also enrolled in selected First-Year Experience classes that offer more intense exposure to college success oriented topics such as note-taking, study skills, time management, and available university support services. In addition, the university offers all first-time, full-time students numerous support services, including the FEXP 100 (freshman experience) course taught by the students' first-year mentors, tutoring, and remedial courses in writing and mathematics.

Bottom Line:  The university hopes to increase its current 75 percent retention rate by one percent per year over the next five years.

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