2016 TG Scholars
Request for Proposals
TG’s Charley Wootan Grant Program invites all eligible institutions to apply for $100,000 for 15-20
scholarships for their students. The application must be completed online. Please review the following
information for eligibility requirements and a description of programmatic elements to include in the
proposal.
Institution eligibility
This grant is open to applications from all public and nonprofit technical or community colleges in Texas.
Community college districts should submit only one proposal per district. Districts with more than one
campus should still only submit one proposal for the district. Current grantee institutions from the 2015
competition are not eligible for the 2016 competition, even if the proposal would be for a different
cohort or campus.
TG estimates awarding four awards in this grant cycle.
Request timeline
November 16:
December 7:
January 22:
Jan. 25-March 31:
April 1:
Fall 2016:
Fall 2018:
Release RFP and open online application
FAQ Webinar for applicants
Application closes at 5 p.m. CST
Review of applications, including potential site visits and requests for additional
information
Selected institutions notified
TG Scholar cohort begins classes. Institutions will notify all TG Scholars of their
award prior to the first class day.
Final semester cohort is eligible to use their remaining scholarship dollars
Access to application
The application can be accessed online at:
https://www.GrantRequest.com/SID_1474?SA=SNA&FID=35019
Purpose of the program
This scholarship program is designed to provide low-income1 Texas students with the necessary
supports to help them succeed in postsecondary education. Research shows that students in lowincome and at-risk populations attain better outcomes when financial supports are paired with
additional academic and social supports. Thus, TG seeks to partner with Texas institutions in order to
1
“Low-income students” will be defined as those with an EFC that does not exceed that of Pell-eligible students at
the grantee institution.
provide holistic services to a cohort of scholars, to be termed TG Scholars, allowing them to attain a
postsecondary credential.
Support for the approach
More than 75% of freshmen at Texas institutions are attending public two-year colleges, and more than
40% of all Texas students attend school part time.2 Of those students studying at public two-year
colleges, nearly 60% of them are minority students.3 Community college students have substantial
unmet financial need.4 Thus, TG is targeting its funding for community college students. In addition, as
students who transfer to four-year universities typically receive fewer financial resources than those
who started at the institution as freshmen, the Wootan program will allow students to transfer their
second year of funding to a four-year university.5
Nationally, community college students persist from their first to second year at an average rate of
55.5%, while four-year institutions average more than 65%.6 In order to increase the persistence and
retention rates of TG Scholars, Wootan funds will be awarded to schools demonstrating a robust
incorporation of evidence-based support services (discussed in more detail in the following sections).
Award details
TG Scholars will receive a two-year award (the second year contingent on completing financial literacy
modules) of up to $6,390 total (with a minimum of $5,000 total). This total award amount may be
divided over a maximum of 6 consecutive terms (fall, spring, summer), based on individual student
needs. A student may stop out for up to one long semester, but all funds must be awarded within two
and a half years of the initial award. However, the student cannot receive more than 50% of the total
award in any given semester.
Programmatic elements
These elements must be fully addressed in the proposal. Applicants will be scored on their ability to
address the following sections.
1. TG Scholar selection process
The process and criteria for selecting scholars will be determined by the institutions and will be
detailed in the application; however, TG stipulates the following five criteria:
2
3
TG (2014), State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas, pp. 20-21.
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), Texas Higher Education Data, Profile Reports Electronically Produced
(PREP), Enrollment -- Statewide by Gender and Ethnic Origin Public 2-year College Fall 2013
(http://reports.thecb.state.tx.us/approot/dwprodrpt/enrmenu.htm).
4
Choitz & Reimherr (2013). April 2013 “Mind the Gap: High Unmet Financial Need Threatens Persistence and Completion for
Low-Income Community College Students,” http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544243.pdf.
5 TG (2012). “A Brief Look at…Transfer Students and Financial Aid.” http://www.tgslc.org/pdf/Transfer-Students-FinancialAid.pdf.
6 ACT, Inc. (2012). “National collegiate retention and persistence to degree rates.”
http://www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/retain_2012.pdf
a. The EFC of TG Scholars cannot exceed that of Pell-eligible students at the grantee
institution.
b. GPA cannot be used to determine eligibility of TG Scholars.
c. The TG Scholars program must be open to students regardless of classification (firstyear, sophomore, etc.). Program participation should not be restricted to first-year
students only (i.e., the student must be allowed, but not required, to transfer for the
second year of the scholarship period and the scholarship dollars must follow the
student—see section 7 for more details).
d. Selection of TG Scholars will follow the institution’s policies with regard to Texas
residents who are ineligible for federal aid based on undocumented status. TG does not
exclude these students and encourages institutions to allow undocumented students
who are eligible for state aid to apply.
e. All selection criteria should be consistent with TG's vision (low-income, underrepresented students with an emphasis on Latino and African-American students).
f. Students must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit hours each long semester.
In addition, institutions will demonstrate what, if any, non-financial criteria will be used to
determine eligibility. This component will be scored on how well the institution is able to
demonstrate that the criteria will meet a significant need for the students at their institution.
For example, colleges may (but are not required to) choose to restrict the scholarship to specific
cohorts of students (e.g., students who have aged out of the foster care system, adult learners,
single parents, etc.). However, institutions should demonstrate in the application that this
cohort will include a sufficient number of eligible students. Institutions should also fully describe
the scholar selection process and the process for obtaining permission to share student data
with TG and with an external evaluator (see section 6). TG recommends that institutions secure
data-sharing permission from all scholarship applicants, during the application process.
Strong applications will provide descriptive statistics on the number of eligible students under
their selection criteria; the number they reasonably anticipate would apply, given all of the
application and scholarship requirements; and the average unmet need this cohort would be
anticipated to have, after receiving scholarship funds. TG has found in previous competitions
that some students do not perceive themselves to have significant enough need to warrant
extensive scholarship requirements. Please demonstrate that your institution has matched the
level of requirement to the level of need, to ensure that requirements will support students,
rather than hinder them.
Strong applications will also include a plan for awarding to alternate scholars, in the event a
student becomes ineligible during the course of the grant.
2. Retention supports
While TG commits to provide scholarship funding, institutions will be selected on their
commitment to provide TG Scholars with evidence-based services that increase student
persistence and retention, such as intrusive advising, early warning systems, tutoring services or
increased opportunities for student engagement with faculty. The application should indicate
how the students will be proactively provided with these services; a list of available services that
all students can access will not constitute a competitive application. Rather, the application
should outline a plan for identifying needs and delivering services to TG Scholars to improve
retention rates and support students’ credential completion. The application should address
how these services will be provided, given that the scholarship dollars are not accompanied by
additional funding for institutional capacity. Successful proposals should cite research
demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed support services. The strongest applications will cite
independent research studies, as well as their own institutional data or that of peer institutions.
For example, a strong application may cite the extensive research on guided pathways7as
evidence for requiring each TG Scholar to meet semesterly with an academic advisor to
create/refresh a degree map tracking the scholar’s progress on course requirements and
mapping the next semester’s courses to the intended career (including course transfer to a
specific program at a specific four-year university, if relevant). The application may include a
brief description of current implementation and results of similar interventions at the campus as
well as an implementation plan and timeline for incorporating the intervention with TG Scholars.
In addition, in lieu of a flat matching requirement, TG invites institutions to quantify the costs
associated with the provision of the support services. This demonstration of internal in-kind
contributions will serve to further quantify the institution’s commitment to the program. The
budget template can be found on the Wootan website. The institution should also provide the
name and title of the key contact person for TG staff and TG Scholars.
3. Institutional commitment
Applications will be favored that demonstrate a clear commitment of institutional leadership to
the population served through the Wootan grant—to serve the students during the grant and
learn from student outcomes to inform future approaches. This commitment may be exhibited
through a letter of support indicating the alignment of the scholarship with the institution’s own
vision. In-kind institutional support, as outlined in the previous section, will also indicate
institutional support. In addition, the proposal should include verified support from both the
financial aid office and the student affairs office. Either office may be the primary contact for the
proposal.
7
Bailey, Jaggars, & Jenkins (2015). Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Succes.
U.S.A: President and Fellows of Harvard University Press.
4. Scholarship renewal requirement: Financial literacy
Given the significant financial barriers that students face, TG requires that all Scholars complete
two of TG’s financial literacy modules to be eligible for their second year of funding. Institutions
should detail which modules will be administered and how completion will be monitored. Strong
applications will include details on why the two modules selected are relevant for the school’s
students.
Information on TG’s 22 available modules can be found at: http://www.tgslc.org/financialeducation/modules.cfm. TG will provide training to grantee institutions in the facilitation of
these modules. Schools may choose to receive training to administer modules in person or they
may request access to TG’s online Learning Center for online administration and tracking.
Details will be finalized with grantees following award notification.
5. Over-award policy
Institutions will be selected based on their commitment to use TG funds to supplement, rather
than displace, existing aid for students. Students should receive all eligible gift aid, including
institutional aid, prior to applying TG funds. If institutional policy requires a reduction in
institutional aid when outside scholarships result in an over-award, please indicate how this
policy will be amended to comply with TG’s award policies. Institutions that displace
institutional aid as a result of TG award dollars will be ineligible for the grant. The proposal
should include a description of institutional aid available for low-income students and how
much unmet need the TG Scholars population will typically have after applying federal grants
and institutional aid. If the Wootan funding would reduce student loan aid, this is completely
acceptable.
6. Student outcomes
Sharing of data is an important component of the Wootan grant, in order to track student
outcomes and improve the program. Applicants should demonstrate the following data-sharing
and tracking components:
a. Institutions should detail how student academic progression will be monitored (i.e.,
semester-to-semester persistence, year-to-year retention, completion, etc).
b. Institutions will agree to share outcomes data with TG on TG Scholars as a group and in
comparison with the other populations. This should include plans for de-identified
student-by-student reporting of financial and non-financial components to include
award package details to TG and authorization for release of scholar information, such
as GPA, major, contact information, etc. to TG. Exact data required, the reporting
format, and the reporting schedule (data will be shared at a minimum of once per
semester) will be specified in the grant agreement.
c. Institutions will share data on TG Scholar finalists in order to provide a comparison
group for future impact evaluation. TG may provide a third-party evaluator to monitor
and evaluate success of the program at each institution. Grant recipients may also be
required to attend (or potentially host) annual study meetings over the life of the grant
and/or following the completion of the grant to meet with representatives from other
Wootan grant recipients to discuss outcomes, lessons learned, internal and external
evaluations, etc. Although expenses related to third-party evaluation and annual study
meetings should not be built into the grant (as they will be provided at TG’s expense),
institutions must indicate commitment to participate.
TG recommends that institutions secure data-sharing permission from all scholarship applicants,
during the application process. This process should be fully detailed in the application.
7. Transfer facilitation
Institutions should indicate their campus’ ability to provide clear pathways for student transfer
to other institutions. They should indicate specific supports in place, such as articulation
agreements, co-advising, transfer advising, etc. that will support TG Scholars who may plan to
transfer for the second year of their scholarship. Applications will be strengthened by
descriptions of data-sharing agreements with feeder four-year institutions, to facilitate more
robust outcomes measures for the Scholars.
8. TG Scholar cohort
Feedback from focus groups with previous Wootan grant recipients indicated that students
would benefit from a cohort identity. Institutions should indicate how this identity will be
created and encouraged, in addition to the TG Scholar cohort label. These methods may include
social media groups, email listservs, special events, etc. In addition, the institution should help
facilitate visits from TG philanthropy staff to meet with students.
9. Monthly disbursement pilot
For the Fiscal Year 2016 Wootan Grant awards, TG is interested in determining whether multiple
disbursements, in a similar approach to the “Aid Like a Paycheck” pilot8, could be advantageous
to TG Scholars, as opposed to disbursements once a semester. We invite institutions to
determine whether they have the ability and intent to disburse TG scholarship funds (those
remaining for a student’s use after tuition and fees had been paid) according to this model. This
section should include reasoning for why this methodology would be important to the TG
Scholar cohort and how it would be implemented.
Evaluation of proposals
Each application will be evaluated based on the capacity and ability to implement the program, as
described in program elements 1-9 (above), including but not limited to review of the following areas:
8
Ware, Weissman, & McDermott (2013). Aid Like A Paycheck: Incremental Aid to Promote Student Success.
http://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/ALAP%20brief.pdf
o
Non-financial “retention” components, including resources to provide academic and
social engagement activities
o
Institutional capacity, including the extent to which the time commitments of key project
personnel are appropriate and adequate to meet the objectives of the scholarship and retention
program
o
Student monitoring, including procedures for ensuring feedback and continuous
improvement in the operation of the scholarship and retention program
o
Design components to ensure student progress and retention, implement and track student
completion of financial literacy modules, facilitate transfer process for students using their
second-year dollars at a four-year university; and avoid displacement of funding
o
Support of the institution’s leadership to implement the scholarship and retention program
Applications will compete against a cohort of peer institutions, as defined by the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board.9 10 This classification will include a category for State Technical and Lamar State
Colleges as well.11
A committee comprised of TG staff as well as select content area experts will review and score proposals
based on metrics developed from program elements 1-9 of this document. Upon completion of the
review and scoring process, the review committee will provide a funding recommendation to TG’s
Executive Leadership, who will approve any grant(s) resulting from this RFP.
Questions
Any additional information on the application requirements and process may be found on the Wootan
grant website at http://www.tgslc.org/wootan/. Please submit any questions on application content or
technical concerns to Jenny Achilles, Program Officer, at jenny.achilles@tgslc.org. In addition, we will
conduct a webinar to answer questions on Dec. 7, from 2-3 p.m. Registration for the webinar will be
available starting Dec. 1 on the Charley Wootan Grant Program website.
9
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board “Community Colleges Classification.”
http://www.txhighereddata.org/interactive/Accountability/CC_Groups.pdf
10 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, “Peer Groups.” http://www.txhighereddata.org/interactive/Accountability/PeerGroup.cfm
11
Ibid.