Completion by Design

Today, community colleges serve nearly 11 million students. However, not enough low-income adults who enroll at a community college complete a credential that prepares them to find a decent-paying job or to transfer to a four-year institution.


Completion by Design is a five-year Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative that works with community colleges to significantly increase completion and graduation rates for low-income students under 26. The Gates Foundation has awarded competitive grants to groups of community colleges in four states (Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas) to help transform their students’ experience. The goal of Completion by Design is to substantially increase completion rates for these students while holding down costs and maintaining access and quality.

JFF’s Role

JFF is the initiative’s national assistance partner for state policy. We help policy leads in each of the four participating states develop and implement a completion-focused policy agenda and support the creation of a state-level continuous improvement network informed by data on student outcomes. JFF engages state policymakers and agency officials, Completion by Design college leaders, representatives from other community colleges in the state, and key stakeholders whose support is critical to policy change.

To support this policy work, JFF draws from its state policy experience with Achieving the Dream and the Developmental Education Initiative, for which it leads policy and capacity building efforts in and across 15 states.

Participating Colleges and College Systems

Florida

Policy lead: Division of Florida Colleges, Florida Department of Education

• Miami Dade College (managing partner)
• Hialeah Campus
• Homestead Campus
• InterAmerican Campus
• Kendall Campus
• Medical Center Campus
• North Campus
• Wolfson Campus

North Carolina

Policy lead: North Carolina Community College System

• Guilford Technical Community College (managing partner)
• Central Piedmont Community College
• Davidson County Community College
• Martin Community College
• Wake Technical Community College

Ohio

Policy lead: Ohio Association of Community Colleges

• Sinclair Community College (managing partner)
• Sinclair Community College, Courseview Campus
• Sinclair Community College, Dayton Campus
• Lorain County Community College
• Stark State College

Texas

Policy lead: Educate Texas

• Lone Star College System (managing partner)
• Alamo Colleges
• Dallas County Community College District
• El Paso Community College
• South Texas College

Funder
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

For more information, contact:
Michael Lawrence Collins, mcollins@jff.org, 617.728.4446