No, the state is not funding pilot projects. These grants are meant to fund well-founded, evidence-based, thoroughly planned institutional transformation projects that are high priorities to college leadership. Proposals should be based on a firm belief and commitment on the part of the applicant that the project is likely to be successful and that sufficient “testing” has already been done.
Successful Go Big applications will be tied together by a unifying theme or theory, even if they do include multiple elements. The strongest unifying themes will be directly related or in support to a key prong of the school’s strategic plan.
Yes.
Yes, we view this as similar to providing stipends for faculty taking on additional roles and a reasonable strategy to ensure that sufficient faculty time can be devoted to ensure successful implementation, without creating a permanent new position that would require ongoing operational funding post-grant.
These funds are intended to quickly help students who need additional support today and in the next 1-2 years. As such, an endowment is not an appropriate use.
Laptop purchases, like books, represent additional costs that are barriers to low-income students when not covered by financial aid programs. These are eligible expenses. That said, a loaner laptop program is not eligible because the resources are ultimately owned by the colleges. A loaner laptop program could be an eligible expense for the Barrier Removal—Growing Institutional Capacity grants.
Yes, every public college in Michigan could receive the Barrier Removal—Direct to Students funding. However, it is still a competitive application process and not an entitlement. Colleges must demonstrate that they can meet the evaluation criteria described in the application. Once the grant is awarded, colleges will be responsible for hitting their milestones and moving support to students, or may risk loss of the grant.
It is possible and colleges should take this into account during their project design. To be clear, the State isn’t requiring that these funds be moved as payments as this questioner assumes. The application provides additional detail.
Yes, within the context of the theory that you provided, this is an eligible expense. The strength of this proposal is the connection to a theory for how it increases student belonging and connectivity on campus. Data that shows increased success for students who have on-campus work study jobs would further help strengthen the proposal.
Any of these expenses are eligible. The proposal should include a clear explanation of how students will be identified/targeted and why this is an important tactic for increasing persistence.
Putting this funding toward an outstanding student balance is allowable, but to be awarded, must be part of an application that includes additional components that will ensure that this will increase student success. This may include:
A successful applicant will demonstrate that its plan for spending funds is likely to increase student persistence, based on evidence of best practices from elsewhere and your own student data. In general, these grants should not operate simply as additional financial aid or only to cover costs controlled by the college. The institution must have a plan for targeting students who are most likely to benefit, wherein a benefit includes ongoing enrollment. That may include emergency grants that are application based. It could also look like targeting a subset of students based on individual attributes and your own data about how infusions of support at key times can lead to persistence.
