From Staff Reports
College students may face numerous obstacles when working toward their goals. Academic preparedness and financial hardship are two such challenges.
But thanks to the SE CARES (Curricular Alternatives to Remedial Education Subjects) program, these issues are being addressed at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
SE CARES has three components that have been identified as best practices for college remediation. These include accelerated experiences, provided through summer workshops for new students; embedded remediation provided by incorporating remediation into gatekeeper credit-earning courses and tutors to work with students through remediation.
The students participating in the summer accelerated programs do not pay extra for remediation and can take credit-earning courses in the fall, as opposed to having to pay full tuition and fees for these remedial courses.
This allows the students to progress academically at the same rate as non-remediation students and saves the student the extra expense of remediation. The embedded programs are also provided at no additional cost to the student.
“The students who have participated in SE CARES have excelled, and the program has exceeded all of our expectations,’’ said Associate Dean for Academic Services Tim Boatmun.
For the summer and fall 2012 cohort, a total of 38 students participated in SE CARES.
According to the most recent data, the SE CARES students outperformed their expected retention rate by 14.8 percentage points and had a higher grade point average than their peers.
And as a result of a $10,000 grant from AT&T, Southeastern is in a position to double the size of the cohort at no cost to the University.
“We’re proud to partner with Southeastern Oklahoma State University in this investment in our future,’’ said Jason Winborn, area manager of external affairs for AT&T Oklahoma. “This investment in college readiness fuels and widens the talent pipeline for our business as well as every other business in our state and the nation.’’