LBCC receives $4 million grant to help non-traditional students

Students who didn’t have a chance to enroll in college immediately after graduating high school will soon get additional help navigating higher education at Long Beach City College thanks to a $4 million federal grant.

The U.S. Department of Education grant, which Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, and LBCC Superintendent-President Mike Muñoz announced during a press conference this week, will allow the college to establish a new “Success and Completion Achievement Network.”

That network, otherwise known as SCAN, will include a series of initiatives aimed at helping non-traditional students navigate and successfully obtain their college degrees, according to a recent press release.

“For many of our students, it has been several years, sometimes even decades since they were last enrolled in school,” Muñoz said in the release. “And while they might be highly motivated and self-directed, they may not have the foundational knowledge to support them as they navigate through a complex college infrastructure.”

LBCC is the only college in California to receive a grant from a $25 billion pot of federal funds set aside for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Controlled Colleges and Universities, according to the announcement.

The $4 million grant specifically targets “indirect matriculants,” or students who didn’t enroll in college right after high school, the announcement said.

About 65% of indirect matriculants, or IDMS, are Black or Latino, LBCC said. Another 58% of those students at LBCC face financial barriers to education, and 41% are first-generation college students.

“This significant investment will enhance the college experience for non-traditional and students of color here in Long Beach,” Garcia, who helped secure the grant, said in the Monday, Jan. 22, press release. “We need to make sure all of the students in our community have the tools and support necessary for their academic success, which means using new approaches and funding to meaningfully uplift our students of color.”

The SCAN program will aim to serve those students specifically, with several supportive services, including a team of peer navigators, a summer bridge program and monthly workshops, designated financial aid and enrollment liaisons, and exclusive English and math courses.

The program is expected to help increase the number of units IDM students complete each year, alongside higher completion rates for transfer-level math and English courses, student credentials, awards, transfers, internships and jobs, LBCC said.