The U.S. Department of Education has announced the fiscal year 2014 new awards for the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program.

North Iowa Area Community College was awarded a total of $2,245,576 for five years starting Oct. 1 and ending Sept. 30, 2019. The college will receive $448,253 the first year, which begins Oct. 1st.

“We are very excited to receive this grant,” said NIACC vice president for student services Terri Ewers. “This funding will directly benefit our students and faculty. Our goal is to improve student success and completion through course redesign, learning analytics, improved technology and faculty development.”

The funding is targeted to specific areas and cannot be used to improve or expand facilities on campus.

NIACC has received Title III funding twice in the past. Each time the grant is awarded new goals must be identified and achieved. Institutions must sit out of the grant application process for at least one year before applying again.

SIP provides grants to eligible institutions of higher education to improve their academic programs, institutional management and fiscal stability to increase their self-sufficiency and strengthen their capability to make a substantial contribution to higher education resources.

Funding is targeted to institutions that enroll a large proportion of financially disadvantaged students and have low per-student expenditures.

“This is such good news for our students,” said NIACC President Dr. Steve Schulz. “This funding allows us an opportunity to increase our efforts in student retention and completion, which is a top priority for everyone at the College.”