OSWEGO, N.Y. — SUNY Oswego will use a five-year, $1.9 million federal grant to support a “range of initiatives building student equity and success.”

The U.S. Department of Education awarded the nearly $2 million Title III grant, SUNY Oswego announced in a Wednesday news release.

The project is titled “Student Success Equity Project: Advancing Equity Through Intentional Peer-to-Peer Supports and Inclusive Pedagogies.” It was funded under the Title III Strengthening Institutions program, with funding running from 2023 to 2028, SUNY Oswego said.

“We are thrilled to receive the support from the U.S. Department of Education to improve our programs and we see it as an important investment and vote of confidence in the direction that SUNY Oswego is moving,” Kristin Croyle, principal investigator and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said in the school’s release.

The Student Success Equity Project is designed to increase the capacity of SUNY Oswego to “engage, retain and graduate all students” while addressing any “potential gaps” in course performance, retention, and graduation rates.

Scott Furlong, SUNY Oswego provost and vice president for academic affairs, is the project’s co-principal investigator. Michelle Bandla, assistant VP for student support, serves as project coordinator.

One “notable feature” of the project involves establishing peer-to-peer tutoring systems, with mathematics providing an early example, the school noted.

“We have students who serve as embedded tutors both in classes and outside of classes,” Croyle said.

“Making these connections with the classes and the student tutors is very beneficial,”Furlong said in the release “It’s important to see that other students like them have made it and figured things out.”

Another key initiative under the grant is developing financial materials that can help students in both short- and long-term ways, the school noted.

“One thing that came through in the student focus groups was a desire for students to better understand their financial options, and what resources they can access, to support their decision-making,” Croyle said. “The Office of Financial Aid is developing financial literacy materials to address some of the uncertainties many students face.”

In addition, the university will develop a program with student financial–literacy mentors, similar to the mathematics tutoring model, sometimes paired with first-year classes to ensure it reaches students “early in their experiences.”

The grant also supports specific groups of faculty working with the SUNY Oswego’sCenter for Excellence in Learning and Teaching to redesign courses and develop more inclusive lessons and processes that will “enhance a sense of student belonging and course completion,” the university said.