ESCANABA — Bay College was one of three colleges recognized at the DREAM Conference on Feb. 20 for showing growth in institutional capacity and significant progress in increasing student success as part of their work with Achieving the Dream.

The college points to its entry into Achieving the Dream in 2007 as the beginning of this success journey. Over this time, Bay College has shown consistent increases in student outcomes, including completion, persistence, and course success. Bay College’s enrollment is 1,935 students.

Bay College’s recent focus has been on closing opportunity gaps for first- generation and low-income students, leading to a change in institutional mindset. The College has launched initiatives such as expanded tutoring and supplemental instruction programs, development of a co-advising model, the addition of both clothing and food banks, and movement toward holistic student advising.

Low-income and first-generation students constitute a sizeable proportion of Bay College’s enrollment, and intentional interventions have been made to improve outcomes for these populations. For example, Bay College moved to a multiple-disbursement financial aid model, and has increased advancement efforts to provide completion grants for students who are close to graduation.

Two specific strategies closely align with recent work of Achieving the Dream. Bay College has increased its dual enrollment numbers steadily over the past several years to reach and prepare low-income and first-generation students; many of these students matriculate at Bay College after high school graduation. To reduce costs and increase access, Bay College has improved its delivery of online courses and of Open Educational Resource (OER) textbooks for its students.

Much of Bay College’s efforts have been on improving outcomes for low-income and first-generation students. The gap between first-generation and non-first-generation students was eliminated, and first-generation students now graduate at a higher rate than non-first-generation students at the College.

Bay College was designated as an Achieving the Dream Leader College in 2012 and a Leader College of Distinction in 2018 for its achievements. Community and student success are the heart of Bay de Noc Community College’s focus, and it stems directly from its mission statement, Student Success, Community Success and Culture of Success.