Chancellor King Announces SUNY ASAP|ACE Met Ambitious Enrollment Targets and Demonstrates Promising Impact on Student Success

October 22, 2024

One Year After Announcing ASAP|ACE Replication 4,270 Students Currently Enrolled at 25 SUNY Campuses

SUNY ASAP|ACE Students More Likely to Attempt and Earn College Credits, and Have Higher Persistence Rates – Preliminary Data

Albany, NY – State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. today announced that one year after stating plans to replicate the nation’s leading evidence-based retention and completion model, 4,270 students are now enrolled in ASAP|ACE across 25 SUNY campuses. All participating colleges met their enrollment targets and 12 had waiting lists going into the fall semester.

Preliminary data from the spring 2024 cohort demonstrates SUNY ASAP|ACE students have higher credit completion and persistence rates than similar non-ASAP|ACE students, providing critical early momentum toward timely graduation.

Advancing Success in Associate Pathways (ASAP) targets associate students and Advancing Completion through Engagement (ACE) targets baccalaureate students, both providing financial resources and wraparound supports to remove barriers to full-time study, help students gain and maintain academic momentum, and create a connected community among students, all in service of increasing timely degree completion.

"The preliminary data from our ASAP|ACE expansion is extremely promising, pointing toward improved outcomes for the over 4,200 students enrolled,” said SUNY Chancellor King. "ASAP and ACE are the nation’s leading, evidence-based strategies to improve retention and completion by addressing the academic, financial, and wraparound needs of students. We are grateful for the leadership of Governor Hochul and support of the legislature in providing the SUNY Transformation Fund that made it possible for 25 SUNY campuses to scale this vital program."

SUNY Board of Trustees said, "Governor Kathy Hochul and our legislative champions have helped pave the way for thousands of students to succeed with the support of SUNY over every step of their academic journey. ASAP and ACE have been proven to remove barriers to higher education success, and we are already seeing that in the early results around credit completion and retention across SUNY’s campuses."

Preliminary results show:

ASAP students participating at 13 SUNY community colleges have a 20% higher credit completion rate than similar non-ASAP students (73% vs. 61%). ASAP students also have a higher spring-fall persistence rate: 80% for ASAP vs. 72% for similar non-ASAP students.
ACE students participating at 12 SUNY four-year state-operated campuses have a 9% higher credit completion rate than similar non-ACE students (89% vs. 82%). ACE students also have higher spring-fall persistence rates: 88% for ACE vs. 85% for similar non-ACE students.

ASAP has been implemented at 13 community colleges including: Cayuga, Clinton, Erie, Finger Lakes, Herkimer, Hudson Valley, Jefferson, Nassau, Orange, Rockland, Schenectady, Suffolk, and Westchester.

ACE has been implemented at 12 state-operated campuses including: Buffalo State, University at Buffalo, Canton, Farmingdale, Fredonia, New Paltz, Morrisville, Oswego, Plattsburgh, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Potsdam, and Purchase.

SUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for Student Success Donna Linderman said, "Our participating SUNY campuses worked rapidly to launch ASAP|ACE and I truly commend them for their work. SUNY is committed to ensuring that we fully support students in their degree pursuits and this preliminary data serves as an inspiring indicator for the ways in which we can increase student success through a proven evidence-based model and expand this program to additional students in the future."

Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Chair of the Senate Higher Educations Committee, said, "The ASAP|ACE programs work. They improve enrollment, students stay in college and graduate in a more timely fashion. I am proud that the legislature, working with the Governor and SUNY, provided significant funding. I first became familiar with the ASAP many years ago when CUNY initiated the program. The results were remarkable and ASAP has been implemented nationally."

Assemblymember Patricia Fahy, Chair of the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Higher Education Committee, said, "New York is leading the way on higher education – innovating and providing new services to students in a targeted manner, and producing serious results. SUNY’s ASAP and ACE programs represent the forefront of that, and this preliminary data shows that meeting students with they are with resources tailored to their needs makes a huge difference in academic outcomes. I’m looking forward to funding more programs like these as we continue our progress on higher education in the state budget next year and thank Chancellor King for investing in the backbone of SUNY’s success – its students."

President and CEO of Lumina Foundation Jamie Merisotis said, "The early results from SUNY’s ASAP|ACE expansion highlight the critical role that comprehensive support programs play in student success. These initiatives are more than just increasing degree completion—they are removing barriers that have long hindered students’ journeys. By addressing both academic and non-academic challenges, these initiatives are paving the way for more students to stay on track, complete their degrees, and succeed beyond college. This is exactly the kind of innovation needed to ensure equitable outcomes in higher education."

Virginia Knox, President of MDRC, said, "The ASAP/ACE model has an unparalleled record of success in study after study, including at SUNY Westchester Community College, MDRC has been evaluating the original ASAP and its replications since 2010. It is heartening to see this remarkable program being expanded to benefit so many students across the SUNY system."

Richard R. Buery, Jr., CEO of Robin Hood, said, "At Robin Hood, we strongly believe one’s starting point in life should not define where one ends up. Access to higher education is a proven pathway out of poverty and to earning as much as a million dollars more than those without college degrees over the lifetime of one's career. We're proud to have seeded the initial launch of these programs at CUNY and applaud Governor Hochul, Chancellor King, and the Legislature for bringing these successful models to SUNY campuses. Thanks to their foresight and leadership, more SUNY students will graduate and benefit from the expanded opportunities that come with a college degree."

Michele Jolin, CEO and Co-Founder of Results for America said, "We are encouraged by the preliminary data showing that these evidence-based strategies are helping SUNY students succeed. By investing in these programs and measuring the results, SUNY is bringing a data-driven approach to improving the lives of its students."

Thomas Brock, Director of the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University, said, "ASAP is a proven model with demonstrable, large effects on college completion. Equally important, ASAP reduces the time to degree through more efficient scheduling and intervention when students experience academic or personal challenges. I'm encouraged to see SUNY's progress in adapting the ASAP model statewide, and look forward to seeing how students benefit as the program expands further."

Sameer Gadkaree, President and CEO of The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) said, "TICAS applauds Governor Hochul and Chancellor King for their wise investment in the ASAP|ACE program. New York leads the nation in expanding evidence-based completion supports, ensuring more students will achieve their college dreams and fewer will be saddled with debt they cannot repay. We hope other states will take up their example and the state will continue to invest in the SUNY Transformation Fund to grow this proven student success program.”

Yolanda Watson Spiva, President of Complete College America said, "Amid a host of complex challenges that threaten to derail students' paths to college graduation, higher education systems across the country are working to remove barriers to access and success for an increasingly diverse generation of students. Since joining the Complete College America Alliance less than a year ago, SUNY and the State of New York have taken important steps to address these challenges head-on. The promising results from the ASAP|ACE program expansion highlight their commitment to improving completion rates and supporting students in a holistic way. Under the leadership of Governor Hochul, Chancellor King, and Senior Vice Chancellor Linderman—who also serves as the CCA Alliance lead for SUNY—SUNY is setting a national standard by prioritizing student success through data-driven, evidence-based strategies at the largest higher education system in the country."

Since the initial launch at CUNY in 2007, ASAP|ACE have served more than 100,000 CUNY students and have been replicated in seven states. ASAP|ACE have been found through rigorous evaluations, including randomized controlled trials, to significantly improve degree completion rates, particularly for underrepresented students. Replications include SUNY Westchester Community College as Viking ROADS, which launched in 2018. An independent study found Viking ROADS demonstrated higher persistence, full-time enrollment and credit attainment rates (MDRC, 2022).

SUNY’s ASAP|ACE replication was made possible through SUNY’s Transformation Fund championed by Governor Kathy Hochul in the 2023-24 enacted state budget. SUNY has also received approximately $4.8 million in grant funding from Robin Hood, the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women, Brightway Education Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Summerfield Foundation, American Ideas Foundation, and Axim Collaborative to increase ASAP|ACE capacity and support services.

In September of 2023, SUNY first announced the expansion of the groundbreaking programs.

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.16 billion in fiscal year 2024, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.

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Chancellor King Announces SUNY ASAP|ACE Met Ambitious Enrollment Targets and Demonstrates Promising Impact on Student Success

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