Performing Department
College of Ag Fam & Cons Scs
Non Technical Summary
The goal of this project is to positively impact recruitment, retention, baccalaureate degree obtainments, and progression of scholarship recipients in the food and agricultural sciences and related fields (FAS and RF). USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Scholarships will be accorded. Upon graduation an overwhelming majority of these students are expected to be gainfully employed with the USDA workforce. The specific objectives are: (1) to leverage the USDA/NIFA 1890 Scholarship Funds with other sources of students' financial support, (2) to assess the scholarships' impacts on recruitment numbers and retention rate, and (3) to determine the scholarships' impacts on students progressing and obtaining baccalaureate degrees, and employment in the agricultural and natural resources workforce. The selected students must have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.8 at the time of application, and maintain at least a 2.8 GPA on a semester and cumulative basis while receiving scholarship support. Scholarship recipients must be enrolled as full-time students (12 hours minimum). Approximately, 50 full and40 partial scholarship awards will be granted. The departments primarily targeted are Agricultural Sciences, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Urban Forestry and Natural Resources. Where applicable, the USDA/NIFA scholarship funds will be leveraged with other financial awards of the selected students.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
0%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The objectives are as follows:To leverage the USDA/NIFA 1890 Scholarship Funds with other sources of students' financial support.To assess the scholarships' impacts on recruitment numbers and retention rate.To determine the scholarships' impacts on students progressing, obtaining baccalaureate degrees, and employment in the agricultural and natural resources workforce.
Project Methods
Methodology for the project by objective include:Objective 1: To leverage the USDA/NIFA 1890 Scholarship Funds with other sources of students' financial supportTo be eligible for the USDA/NIFA 1890 Scholarship, students must be a high school senior or a college/transfer. The applicant must have a grade point average (GPA) of 2.8 at the time of application and maintain at least a 2.8 GPA on a semester and cumulative bases while receiving scholarship support, and be enrolled as a full-time student (12 hours minimum). The College of Agricultural, Family and Concumer Sciences (CAFCS) has three departments; scholarships will be awarded to students wanting to pursue a degree in one of the three departments. Applicants will be evaluated to ensure they meet the requirements. To receive a scholarship under the program, a student must satisfy all four of the following criteria: (1) must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, (2) must be accepted for admission to Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge (SUBR), (3) must be enrolled at SUBR no later than one year after the date of acceptance for admission, and (4) must be pursuing a field of study in the FAS and RF disciplines, such as in the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Urban Forestry and Natural Resources. The 1890 USDA/NIFA scholarships will complement existing scholarships at SUBR and help to provide needed additional financial assistance to a select number of high caliber incoming freshmen and college/transfers in the FAS and RF. The 1890 USDA/NIFA scholarships criteria and method of selecting applicants and awardees will not duplicate an existing scholarship at SUBR. The department heads will work closely with the project director (PD), co-project directors (Co-PDs), and SUBR's Admission and Financial Aid Offices to ensure that each qualified undergraduate student who is eligible to receive the USDA/NIFA 1890 scholarship does not exceed the maximum amount of the funds allowed by the University.We will leverage the USDA/NIFA 1890 scholarship dollars with a recipient's other financial support. In leveraging, we will take in consideration the amount of a student's other financial awards excluding loans. Each student at the University has a "cost of study" cap. A student cannot exceed the cap determined by the SUBR's Office of Financial Aid. A student's other financial aid such as work study, stipends, Honor's College scholarship, and other awards will be applied first. Then our 1890 USDA/NIFA Scholarship Award will be applied afterwards up to but no more than $8,000/academic year/scholar and no less than 50 full scholarships the first year. Additionally, no more than $4,000/academic year/scholar and no less than 40 partial scholarships will be issued the first year. This approach allows us to spread the scholarship dollars to more scholars. The scholarship dollars can be used for tuition, room and board, student fees, and textbooks. Each department in the CAFCS will be provided a base fund of $120,000 for scholarship offerings, to be allocated equally among the program concentrations in each department. The remaining $442,500/year to be used in part for scholarship offerings at large rather than equally divided among departments. The USDA/NIFA 1890 Scholarship Program will assist us in increasing our undergraduate enrollment, retention, graduation or near graduation of more baccalaureate degrees, and enhance employment in the USDA and strategic partners' workforce.Objective 2: To assess the scholarships' impacts on recruitment numbers and retention rateData will be collected each semester on enrollment numbers in the departments receiving the 1890 USDA/NIFA scholarship funds and statistically analyzed for significant differences each year. The data collected will include student enrollment, retention, degree attainment, and employment in the USDA and strategic partners' workforce. Thevariance in student enrollment will be recorded. The variance, retention, degree attainment, and employment in USDA will treated as binomial variables and analyzed with contingency tables [R Core Team (2019)]. Also, the measures for academic outcomes will extend to five years after graduation as follow-up data. The data to evaluate the project will be analyzed by SUAREC Office of Planning and Evaluation (SOPE). At the end of the project's four-year period, summative evaluation will be conducted to determine the extent to which the project's objectives were achieved. SOPE researchers will analyze the data and make inferences about the project's successes or failures. These researchers will develop an evaluation instrument that will capture institutional data such as enrollment data, graduation rate, retention rate, and number of scholars working in the USDA and strategic partners' workplace. A survey instrument will be developed that will measure student's perception and viewpoints of their academic experiences, program related activities, pre and post the academic years. The student responses for the pre and post years will be statistically analyzed. The variables will be analyzed; the binomial variables with contingency tables, the Likert variables with the package 'lkert' of R, the continuous variables with paired and non-paired t-tests (Bryer and Specrchneider, 2016).Objective 3: To determine the scholarships' impacts on students progressing, obtaining baccalaureate degrees, and employment in the agricultural and natural resources workforceData also will be collected each semester on the full and partial scholarship recipients and their attainment of baccalaureate degrees. Given that only 9% of SUBR students graduate in four years and only 26.9% graduate in six years, measureable variables will include the following: (1) number and percentage of incoming high school and college/transfers scholars passing gateway courses in English, Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry on the first attempt, (2) number of undergraduate scholars graduating in four, five, six, seven, and eight years, (3) number and percentage of scholars employed in a FAS and RF after one, two, and three years post undergraduate graduation, and (4) number of scholars failing to maintain their scholarships. The data will be statistically analyzed and reported.