Your Institutions
Do What the
Research Says
Works.
When controlled for income, African American students at HBCUs are 33% more likely to graduate than at comparable non-HBCUs. The mechanism is belonging, identity affirmation, and relational support. These are the exact EI subscales College Edge measures and develops.
Request Partnership InformationThe Raw Numbers
Tell an Incomplete Story.
The raw 6-year HBCU graduation rate is 32%. At first glance, that looks like an institutional performance issue. It is not. It is a measurement issue.
HBCUs enroll dramatically higher concentrations of Pell Grant recipients, first-generation students, and students from lower-income families. When researchers controlled for these factors in the Gordon et al. (2021) study, African American students at HBCUs were 33% more likely to graduate than African American students at institutions with similar characteristics.
The success mechanism is belonging, faculty-student relationships, peer community, and cultural identity affirmation. These are EI mechanisms. College Edge brings the clinical instrument that measures and develops these exact competencies.
Source: Gordon et al. 2021; Inside Higher Ed 2023; NSCRC 2024
This Is Fundable.
Here Are the Sources.
TRIO Student Support Services
SSS grantees are actively seeking evidence-based retention interventions. College Edge aligns precisely with the SSS mandate.
Title III Part A
The Strengthening HBCUs program provides flexible institutional capacity-building funds. College Edge qualifies as a student support and completion-focused intervention.
GEAR UP
Federal Gaining Early Awareness grants follow students from middle school through the first year of college. Persist enrollments are within GEAR UP mission scope.
State Completion Funds
North Carolina's UNC System, Tennessee's Drive to 55, Georgia's Complete College Georgia, and South Carolina's Commission on Higher Education all hold state completion-focused funding.
Duke Endowment
North Carolina and South Carolina focus. Historically funds college access and completion programs for underserved students.
Truist Foundation
Southeast focus with strong commitment to economic mobility and college completion. Aligned with TGG regional positioning.
Let Us Build the Partnership.
A 20-minute call is enough to map the right entry point, whether that is a Persist cohort for enrolled students, a pre-college program, or a grant-funded institutional program.
Request Partnership InformationFrom the Campus Where This Work Happens.
"Technical competence may open the door to leadership, but emotional intelligence determines whether a leader can sustain trust, influence people, and guide an organization effectively. Dr. Thurman's message underscores that leadership development is not a one-time event but a continuous process."