Building Bridges to the Liberal Arts

Campus leaders at Vassar College (NY) are on a mission to bring community college students to liberal arts institutions. They announced plans this fall to help 30 liberal arts colleges explore how to start programs modeled after Exploring Transfer, a 35-year-old summer bridge program for community college students at Vassar. Administrators will also expand access and make improvements to their own program, such as adding extra mental health supports, based on feedback from alumni and in collaboration with community college leaders. The effort, called the Exploring Transfer Together initiative, is funded by a two-year grant from the ECMC Foundation, a national foundation focused on improving higher ed outcomes among underserved students.