Grace College’s new “Measure of Grace” initiative is the topic of an article on Academic Impressions, an academic newsletter which help colleges and universities tackle the issues that directly impact their overall health and ability to compete. A portion of the article appears below. Click here to read the complete story.
Measure of Grace: A Different Approach to Tuition and Persistence
With their new “Measure of Grace” initiative, Grace College is working to keep their undergraduate degrees affordable and incentivize student persistence and completion. A few years ago, the college began offering the option to complete all of their bachelor’s degrees as three-year degrees. Now, with “Measure of Grace,” the college is:
- Reducing the Fall 2015 tuition rate by 9% (compared to Fall 2014)
- Committing that, starting in Fall 2015, students who remain continuously enrolled will never see their tuition increase above the tuition rate of their first term
- Offering continuously enrolled students further reductions in tuition (a reduction $500 in the sophomore year, an additional $500 in the junior year, and $500 more in the senior year)
- Providing free textbook rental (excluding consumable workbooks), with textbooks delivered to the students’ dorm rooms (at an estimated cost of $1200/year in textbooks, this would save each student an estimated $4,800 over the course of a four-year degree)
“We could have just reduced tuition to increase our competitiveness and increase enrollment,” Cindy Sisson, Grace College’s vice president of enrollment, notes, “but we also wanted to reward students for persisting. In fact, the students who came in last fall will get the $500 reduction this coming fall, and the free textbook rentals.”
Grace College already has a tradition of high persistence, with 81% freshman-to-sophomore retention in 2014, reflecting recent gains from their three-year degree initiative.
Click here to read the complete story.