HCTC awarded $300,000 to assist students’ success

Students at Hazard Community and Technical College will see enhanced benefits through new Student Success Centers, thanks to $300,000 awarded by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). HCTC’s proposed student success centers project is one of three winners of the KCTCS Entrepreneurial/Innovation Initiative for the Non-Traditional Students Challenge. These centers will focus on non-traditional students and will provide connections to internal and external resources that will assist in their success. Many external partners will help HCTC students with non-academic barriers such as childcare, SNAP benefits, mental health counseling, food insecurities and more.   

The money awarded, in part, will pay for one new Success Coach position at each of three campus locations – Hazard, Technical, and Lees College Campus. Those hired will have three major goals: recruitment, increase the number of GED graduates who enroll at HCTC, and improve retention rates of those already enrolled.

HCTC President Dr. Jennifer Lindon gives high marks to the team that created the proposal. “KCTCS obviously agreed that the plan was ideal for helping students and I’m very proud to see our college as one of only three awardees,” she said. This is the second time HCTC has received a KCTCS Entrepreneurial/Innovation Initiative for Non-Traditional Students Award. The first award launched the Tuesday Night Live program, which has proven to be very successful in meeting the needs of students. “Instead of saying to a student, ‘This is the number of the state government office to contact for assistance,’ we are going to invite our resource partners to our campus, to make access easier,” Dr. Lindon explained.  Resource Provider Fairs will be scheduled twice a year. “We find that there are students who think they can’t go to college; our aim is to help them overcome barriers so they can be successful college students,” Lindon stated.