Raritan Valley Community College
Student success is a high priority in the Raritan Valley Community College’s strategic plan, which includes goals for increasing college responsiveness to changing demographics, growing diversity, and the changing needs of RVCC’s community.
RVCC will use Achieving the Dream to accomplish the following goals:
- To have the highest rate of retention and graduation among the 19 community colleges in NJ, including those historically underrepresented in higher education
- Work with K-12 districts to better prepare students for college-level coursework and assure the college has adequate support services
- Increase student engagement and student life program, which seeks to develop co-curricular skills
- Ensure that programs and services are fully accessible
The college currently offers multiple levels of curricula to enhance student academic success, from basic remediation to honors programming. Achieving the Dream will enhance their existing college initiatives that are reorganizing aspects of developmental education, examining how students are placed in courses, and identifying issues surrounding diversity and underrepresentation.
Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) is located in North Branch (within Branchburg Township), New Jersey. The college was founded in late 1965 as "Somerset County College" and welcomed its first class of students in the fall of 1968. It was given its present name in 1987, when it became the county college for Hunterdon County as well as to its home of Somerset County, becoming the first community college in New Jersey to be sponsored by two different counties. RVCC offers over 90 degree and certificate programs and enrolls approximately 8,000 students each year.
Seventy percent of first-time, full-time students were enrolled in one or more remediation courses at RVCC for the Fall 2009 semester and 52% enrolled in remedial elementary algebra. Thirty-eight percent of Raritan Valley’s students were students of color and 100% of the students enrolled were in-state residents. The majority (66%) of students were younger than age 25 and female (54%). The college’s graduation rate after three years for their Fall 2006 cohort was only 17%.
The Achieving the Dream Model
Achieving the Dream community colleges commit to our Student-Centered Model of Institutional Improvement. Based on four principles, the model frames the overall work of helping more students, particularly low- income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree.
Each college approaches the work differently, but Achieving the Dream’s five-step process provides practical guidelines for keeping the focus where it belongs and building momentum over time. Throughout the process, Achieving the Dream coaches offer customized support and help each college’s core team implement data-informed programs and policies that build long-term, institution-wide commitment to student success.
